Back To You
by lifeisasong
Summary: They're parents were friends, so they were born friends. They grew up together and shared everything, including toys, birthdays, and first kisses. Until her family moves away. What happens when she moves back years later and they're grown up? TROYELLA
1. Intro and Moving Again

**Alright, I'm starting a new story (for anyone who reads my other one 'More Than One' I will still be adding to that one don't worry.)**

**Here's a better introduction.**

When they were little, their parents had been best of friends. It had started when the four of them were back in high school. They had all been friends then, and had ended up turning into two great couples. The two wives did everything together….shopping, cooking, talking, even working. In fact, Lisa Montez and Diane Bolton even ended up getting pregnant at the same time. It hadn't been planned, but nonetheless, the best friends were overjoyed. They had hoped for either two girls or two boys, so they could be best friends. To their joy, the doctor told them they would both be having little girls. Gabriella Marie Montez was born first.

Imagine their surprise when little Victoria Lynne Bolton ended up being a boy, appropriately renamed Troy.

Although they hadn't exactly gotten their wish, the two kids still became best friends. With their parents constantly together, they were constantly together, and constantly playing. Troy always tried to be tough, and Gabby always made sure that she put Troy in his place.

The two were inseparable, sharing everything, all the time. This included toys, birthdays, and even their first kiss when they were ten years old. They couldn't be torn apart, until Mr. Montez announced to them all that he had just gotten an amazing job, out in California. It was an offer he just couldn't refuse.

That was when The Montez family packed up everything from their comfortable Albuquerque home and headed to the west coast. Troy and Gabriella were separated, and still being kids, they forgot about each other as time went on. Instead of being inseparable, as always, they became each other's fond memories.

But years later, just after Gabriella's seventeenth birthday, her dad tells her and her mother that he is being transferred again. This brings back the memories of their last move. Gabby isn't so sure that she wants to move. She loves her life and her friends where they are now. But then she realizes that she hadn't asked her dad where they were moving.

His answer: Albuquerque.

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**Chapter 1: Moving Again**

Gabby dropped her last box by the floor of her bed and flopped tiredly down onto her bed. She stared around at her empty room, her home for the past seven years. The light blue walls, which had once been covered with pictures, posters, mirrors, and other little things were now empty. Everything was now divided into the boxes surrounding her bed.

She heard a knock on the door and sat up, looking to see who it was. "Oh, hi mom." She lay back down with a light sigh. She wasn't really in the mood to talk to her mom.

"Gabby…" Lisa said softly and made her way to her daughter's bed, even though she had made it clear that she didn't want to talk. "I know that you're mad sweetie…" she started.

"I'm not mad mom." Gabriella interrupted her.

Lisa was unable to say anything for a moment, unsure of what to say. "Alright, well you might not be mad, but I know you're upset." She told Gabby. "I just want to tell you I'm sorry."

"I know, I get it!" Gabriella sat up, wishing her mom hadn't come in here. "Yes, I'm upset, and I will probably be for a while because you and dad are making me leave all of my friends and my life here to move." She told her. "So I'm sorry if I'm not all happy, but I'm just trying to get over the fact that I'm leaving my home behind."

Her mother sighed, and got up from the bed, giving up on talking this over. "You know Gabriella, Albuquerque was your home once too." She reminded her before leaving the room.

Gabby couldn't argue that. She had lived in Albuquerque for eleven years of her life. That was longer then she had lived here. Still, this was where she had grown up, made all of her friends, and maybe even fallen in love. Now she was leaving that all behind.

There was another knock on her door and she sighed in annoyance. "What?" she asked, not meaning to sounds so harsh.

"Wow, someone's grumpy today." A blonde rolled her eyes from the door.

Gabby's expression softened when she saw one of her best friends standing in her doorways. "Sorry Andy." She told her. "I'm just sort of frustrated right now."

"Understandable." Andy nodded, coming into the room and looking around. "Wow, you're all packed up." She sighed, looking at the boxes.

"Yeah." Gabby replied sadly.

"I've never seen this room so empty." Any sighed again.

Gabby wished that she wasn't acting like this. She needed someone to stop being so down about her leaving. "I know." she nodded.

Suddenly Andy turned around with tears in her eyes. "Oh my god I'm going to miss you!" she exclaimed, losing the calm attitude that she had come in with. She threw her arms around Gabby, sending the brunette to tears too.

"I'm going to miss you too." Gabby whispered.

The two of them stood there for a while, hugging each other tightly, until they both stopped crying. "Okay, I was supposed to bring you over to Logan's for a surprise party, but I don't know why everyone trusted me with that secret because obviously I just told you." Andy pulled away, telling her everything. She slapped a hand over her mouth. "Oh my god, can you please just try to act surprised so they don't kill me?" she asked.

Gabriella laughed. "You guys planned a surprise party for me?" she asked.

"Of course we did!" Andy said in fake shock. "You're like everyone's friend you know that? I don't think I've ever met someone with no enemies." She laughed.

Gabriella smiled at her friend's words. "Alright I'll fake being surprised." Gabriella hugged Andy.

"Let's go then!" Andy grabbed her friend's arm and dragged her out of the room.

"I'm going out!" Gabriella called to her parents before disappearing out the front door for her last night with her friends.

**Alright, hope you liked it! Tell me what you think. I already have a few chapters written so there should be more up very soon.**


	2. Goodbyes

**Okay here's the next chapter. Things are still getting set up, so stick with me?**

**Chapter 2: Goodbyes**

Gabriella slipped on her large sunglasses, willing herself not to cry. She figured she had gotten that over with the night before at her goodbye party. Still, it was hard to be positive in her last few moments before getting into the packed up car. Especially when her little group of friends were lined up on the front lawn. They had all gotten up early to say one last goodbye.

"Okay Gabby, time to go." Her dad called, slamming the trunk closed. The moving truck that was waiting to leave had also shut its doors.

"Okay dad." The brunette sighed, and went over to her friends for the hardest part. No matter how hard she tried to stop herself from crying, the tears still came.

Riley and Amber, the gorgeous heart breaking twins, got up first, leading the rest of the group to do the same. The two of them hugged her simultaneously, causing her to take a few steps back in shock. The twins started laughing at this. "Sorry." Riley laughed.

"We'll miss you." Amber said for them both.

"Aw guys, what am I going to do without you two?" Gabby wondered aloud, thinking of all of the crazy times she had with those two specific girls. They were anything but ordinary, and always kept her life interesting.

"Just remember that if Albuquerque ever gets boring, which, well, it probably will because face it, there's no place that can be quite exciting then where we are right now." Seth, the surfing obsessed, funny boy of the group told her. "Just come for a visit."

"I'll remember that." Gabriella laughed, while he enveloped her in a hug. "Oh and go for Andy, I know that both of you want each other." She whispered a final piece of advice into her friend's ear before he pulled away.

"Seriously?" Seth asked, unsure.

"Have I ever lied to you?" she asked, which was of course a rhetorical question.

"I'm going to miss your wisdom, Miss Montez." Seth replied.

"Not as much as I am!" Andy suddenly came between the two of them, unable to wait any longer to say goodbye to Gabby. The two of them hugged, not saying much since they already had the night before.

"You better call every day." Andy told her, shaking her blonde hair away from her face.

"I know, you've warned me already." Gabby smiled at her.

Andy let go of her and made way for the final friend, who had been waiting silently. Gabriella felt her heart break a little when she looked at him. It was obvious that he wasn't happy about this.

If Gabriella had to choose one person to not leave behind, it would be Logan Parker. He was her first love, or so she thought. Gabriella had never really been sure. Nevertheless, the two of them had flip-flopped between going out and just being friends. It was a complicated relationship.

From the beginning he hadn't been happy about her moving away. At first Gabriella hadn't been sure why, until she finally talked to him and figure out that it was simply because he didn't know how her leaving would put them. Would they be together, or would they accept the fact that the distance was just to far to keep whatever was going on between them alive?

Apparently Logan made the decision to leave it with them just being friends, which she understood when he had broken up with her a few days ago. Gabriella didn't really argue, she knew he was probably right anyways. She would rather have him as a friend than lose him if things didn't work out.

As hard as Gabriella tried to keep her tears at a minimum, she couldn't hold them back when Logan hugged her. She was going to miss his hugs along with a long list of other little things about him.

"You should know that I had a whole bunch of things that I wanted to say to you either last night or right now," Gabby looked up at him. "But last night I just couldn't bring myself to do it, and now…"

"Gabby come on we want to get there before dark!" her dad called from the car, interrupting her.

"I…" she couldn't find the words to say.

Logan stopped her by giving her a kiss on the forehead. "Just don't forget about us okay?" he told her.

"Never." She promised. "Bye." She whispered, knowing her parents were beginning to get impatient. She pulled away and gave her five friends a final wave before getting into the back of the car.

"Alright, here we go!" Mrs. Montez said excitedly when they were already. Her parent's excitement disgusted Gabriella. She stayed silent, watching out the window while her friends jumped around and waved. She was going to miss this place.

But while they pulled away, Gabriella couldn't help but remember the last time she had gone away like this. She had been eleven years old, still a little too small to see out the back window, but that hadn't stopped her from watching the person waving from her front lawn.

- - -

"_Don't forget me okay?" Gabriella asked. She was scared of leaving her home._

_The boy standing in front of her shook his head wildly. "I promise I won't." He told her._

"_But I'm going to be really far away, are you sure you wont?" Gabriella asked. She twisted the end of one of her braids around in her fingers._

"_I'll never forget you Gabby." Troy assured her._

_Gabriella smiled. "Good, because I would be so disappointed with you Troy Bolton." She told him, her eleven-year-old attitude coming out._

"_Gabby, it's time to go sweetie." Her mom called from where she and Mr. Montez had been saying goodbye to Troy's parents. The two kids looked at each other in dread before giving each other a big hug. Surprisingly, Gabriella broke into tears. Troy noticed almost instantly and wiped them away for his best friend._

"_Don't cry." He told Gabby._

"_But I'm going to miss you." Gabriella informed him._

"_I know." Troy nodded. "I'll miss you too." He whispered, before giving her one final hug._

- - -

It occurred to Gabriella that Troy hadn't kept his promise, since she had only talked to him or seen him once since they had moved. It was clear the two had forgotten about each other. It wasn't really his fault though. The truth was that they were just too young. While they had been inseparable when they were little kids, they grew up apart.

She knew the Bolton's still lived in Albuquerque, and had no doubt that her parents would be in touch with Troy's. They were best friends, after all. As the three Montezs drove away from their comfortable, beachfront house, Gabriella wondered what Troy was like now. Would she recognize him? Would she even see him? What kind of person had he grown into?

She couldn't be sure, but suddenly felt like there was some sort of purpose to them moving. Before, she had hated the idea, now she couldn't help but feel curious about what had happened to the place she left behind.

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Troy Bolton finally dragged himself out of bed on Monday morning, after slapping the snooze button on his alarm clock five times. Finally his real alarm clock, otherwise known as his mother, had flung open his door and told him that he was going to be late for school if he wasted any more time in bed.

Troy had no choice to do what his mom told him to. He definitely didn't want to prove her right. So he got himself up, having a quick shower and getting dressed with ease. He dried his hair with his towel before hanging it up, knowing that his mom hated it when he left towels lying on the floor, his bed, or his desk chair. Finally he grabbed his stuff and ran down the stairs with just enough time to grab a bagel and run. It was his daily routine.

"Troy, are you going to be home tonight for dinner?" his mom asked when he got to the kitchen. "We have some guests coming over and…"

"Sure mom, I have to go though so we'll talk about this later." He interrupted her, never stopping his feet from moving. A few moments later he was out the door and on his way to his car.

Diane watched her son from the window and sighed. "Alright, but you'll wish you had stayed around for one more second…" she muttered, before going back to making herself a coffee.

"Good morning." Jack Bolton greeted his wife when he entered the kitchen she turned and gave him a look. "What's wrong?" he was afraid to ask.

"Nothing." She shook her head.

"Did you tell Troy about the Montez family moving back?" Jack asked, grabbing a mug to pour himself some coffee.

"Nope." She replied. "He was in here for about a half a second before bolting out that front door." She rolled her eyes, used to her son rushing on school mornings. "I guess he's just going to be in for a surprise."

"I guess so." Jack replied, picking up the newspaper.

"Maybe he'll run into Gabriella at school. She should be starting today." Diane suggested.

Her husband lowered his paper a little. "I doubt it, it's a pretty big school." He told her truthfully. "But you never know."

"I see." She nodded, still looking out the window.

"Speaking of which, I should probably get going." Jack said when he glanced at the clock. He drank the last of his coffee and got ready to head out.

"Aren't you going to eat something first?" Mrs. Bolton asked. She watched her husband shrug innocently before grabbing a bagel from the counter, just like Troy had minutes before. "Like father like son" she muttered after hearing the door close behind him.

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Gabriella parked her car in the student parking lot of the familiar looking school. She remembered when she was a little kid and had dreamed of coming here. In some strange way, her dream had come true, although it hadn't been her dream for a long time. Tired from spending the whole night before trying to unpack some of her stuff, Gabriella dragged herself from her car and up the front steps of East High.

"This is bigger then I remember." She muttered when she had made it through the doors. She needed to find the office, but all she saw was a pack of students milling about. Luckily, on second glance she found a big red and white sign on the wall that spelled out the word OFFICE and pointed her in a direction.

She went in that general direction, pushing her way through a crowd of students. She got some odd looks, which she sort of expected. It was natural to stare at the new kid. Finally she made it to the office and stepped in just as some guy was coming out. It turned into a collision, but before either of them could say anything about it, someone interrupted them.

"Ah, you must be Miss Montez, am I right?" Gabriella turned to see a man standing just outside a door that read Principal.

"Yes." She pulled herself together quickly.

"Perfect." He smiled kindly at her. "I'm Mr. Matsui, and welcome to East high."

"Thanks." Gabriella said uneasily. The guy she had crashed into was still standing there.

"Well it seems like everything is in order." Mr. Matsui informed her. "So I don't think we really need to go over anything." He added. "Have you found your way around the school yet?" he asked.

"Um…no." Gabriella said, she couldn't believe that he might have expected her to know her way around the giant school in less then five minutes.

"Well then." He looked thoughtful for a moment. "Danforth." He looked at the guy standing a few feet behind Gabby. "Could you please show Miss Montez around, until she is settles in?"

"Sure sir." He replied.

Suddenly Mr. Matsui disappeared back into his office and the two were left alone. Gabriella turned towards the guy and got her first look at him. To her surprise, he looked slightly familiar. It was mostly the hair that stood out to her. He had a head full of curls. But she just couldn't place him in her mind. "Sorry for nearly knocking you over." She said, stopping herself from staring for too long.

"It's alright." The guy told her. "I wasn't really watching where I was going."

"I see." Gabriella smiled. "So, what's your name?" she asked curiously, realizing she only knew his last name.

"Chad." He stuck out his hand in a friendly way. "You?"

"Gabriella." She replied, shaking his hand lightly.

"Would it be weird if I asked you where you came from?" Chad asked her.

"As long as it isn't the beginning of some lame pickup line." Gabriella shrugged.

Chad laughed. "Nope, I'm just curious."

"Then…California." She told him, watching him nod. "Would it be weird if I asked what you were doing in the Principals office." She asked while they started making their way down the hall.

Chad laughed again. "Are you sure you really want to know?" he asked with a smirk.

"Oh so you're a troublemaker then?" Gabby assumed.

Chad glanced over at her with a small smile and shrugged. "I guess you could say that."

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**Hope you liked it! Tell me what you think?**

**Oh just in case anyone gets the wrong idea, there is no Gabby/Chad going on. It's simply friendly :)**


	3. A Wildcat Welcome

**Wow, I was happy to see that so far this story has caught a lot of your interests. Thanks for the reviews so far guys.**

**Here's some the next chapter. I'll put another one up later.**

**Chapter 3: A Wildcat Welcome**

That morning when Chad had gotten to homeroom late, Troy had bee curious to know why. He figured it was because he had gotten sent to the office for some sort of trouble. But he wasn't usually that late. Plus, when he told Ms. Darbus his reason for being late, which Troy was unable to hear, she had surprisingly accepted it, and told him to take his seat.

Unfortunately, Troy wasn't able to question his best friend for the entire homeroom period, since Ms. Darbus would have had his head if he got caught talking while she was. To top it off, Monday was the one day where the two guys didn't have practically every subject together. So he had to wait until lunch to figure everything out.

"Hey man!" Chad appeared at Troy's locker at the beginning of lunch, when he was putting his books away.

"Hey, what's up?" Troy asked normally.

"I'm starving, let's go eat." Chad didn't really answer his question. "Oh, and I have to tell you something." He added.

"Alright." Troy figured it had something to do with that morning. He slammed his locker and followed his friend down the busy hallway. "What is it?" he asked.

"Okay, well this morning when I was coming out of the Principal's office.."

"What did you do this time?" Troy asked, shaking his head lightly.

"The usual."" Chad shrugged with ease. "But that doesn't matter, when I was coming out of the office, this girl crashed into me."

"Okay…" Troy was used to Chad's random stories, but he wasn't really sure where he was going with this.

"Anyways, I hung around, and Mr. Matsui came out and welcomed her to East high and stuff, and then ordered me to show her around and stuff." Chad continued. "But that's not even the good part. "You should see this girl Troy."

"What does she look like?" Troy asked. Sure, it was a shallow thing to ask, but he was curious.

"I can't quite describe her actually." Chad explained while they sat down at their usual table, with the rest of the basketball team and some of the cheerleaders. "But believe me, she's hot stuff." He finished.

"Well then, I guess you'll have to point her out for me when you see her again." Troy told Chad, not really wanting to have to wait until this girl showed up.

"Well you're in luck dude, there she is." Chad subtly pointed to one of the entrances to the cafeteria, where a girl was just entering and heading towards the lunch line to buy some food.

She was the most beautiful girl Troy had ever seen. Chad hadn't been lying when he said that she was hot. Troy thought that was the understatement of the century. She had long dark hair falling around her back and shoulders in loose curls, and golden tanned skin. "Oh my…" he trailed off, trying to shake himself out of his trance.

"Wow….I'm guessing that you agree with me then." Chad laughed at his friend's reaction to seeing her. "And every other guy in the school." He added, knowing that almost every guy had similar reactions to Troy's upon seeing her.

"Well I can see why." Troy said, following the girl with his eyes. He suddenly looked to Chad with a slight smirk. "I say we give the girl a good Wildcat welcoming."

"Whatever you say man." Chad laughed again. "I'm going to lay low, you go work your magic." He watched his friend get up and walk across the cafeteria to where the new girl was standing.

Troy tapped the girl lightly on the back to get her attention. She turned around quickly and scanned him carefully with her big brown eyes. "Hi." She said, waiting to see what he wanted.

"Hi, I hear you're new." He stuck out his hand and paired it with a smile that usually sent girls into giggles. This girl stood still, her expression he same as before. "I wanted to welcome you." He went on. "I'm…"

"Troy Bolton." The girl finished casually.

His smile faded into a look of confusion. "How do you know my name?" he asked.

The girl in front of him suddenly smiled "You look exactly the same as you did when I last saw you." She told him. "Same big blue eyes and floppy brown hair, just more grown up."

"What?" Troy was now fully confused.

She laughed. "Relax, I'm not some crazy stalker girl if that's what you're thinking." She told him. "Don't you remember the first girl you kissed?" she asked.

The realization quickly came to Troy's face. "Gabriella?" he suddenly asked, staring at her in disbelief.

"Took you long enough." She smirked.

"Seriously?" Troy was still in shock from seeing her. He saw her nod. "You look completely different."

"Well I hope I don't look like my eleven year old self anymore." She told him with a laugh. He didn't argue with her on that. She had definitely grown up.

"So what…are you doing here?" Troy asked. He realized that he hadn't seen her in six years and the last time they had heard from each other, she had been living in California.

"We moved back." Gabby told him.

"You moved back?" he repeated her words.

"Yeah, I thought your parents knew." She said thoughtfully. "I'm surprised they didn't tell you we were coming back."

"Yeah me too." Troy made a mental note to ask them about that later.

Gabriella looked behind her at the lunch line, which was slowly growing. She seemed to have lost her spot. "Well I'd better get back in line." She told him. "I'm glad I found you." She added slightly awkwardly.

"Yeah, it's good to see you again Gabby." Troy nodded, smiling. He was surprised when she stepped forward and hugged him.

When she pulled away, both were suddenly aware that they seemed to have caught the entire cafeteria's attention. The girls were all either shocked or glaring, and the guys just seemed interested. "Wow, um…" Gabby looked at Troy in confusion.

"Don't mind them." Troy told her.

"If you don't mind me asking, why exactly are they all staring like that?" Gabby asked.

"Uh…" Troy started. "You'll figure it out." He told her before turning away. He wasn't sure that he wanted to admit to her what his social standing was like at East High.

"Figure out what?" she called after him. Troy didn't turn around, which frustrated her to death, but she wouldn't lose her cool. Instead she got back in line behind a girl who gave her a dirty look before flicking her blonde hair over her shoulder.


	4. The Two Sides

**Yay, I'm loving the reviews. Thanks so much guys!****  
**

**Chapter 4: The Two Sides**

That afternoon during free period, Gabriella was wandering the halls. As great as Chad was with helping her around, she could never seem to find him. It was odd. Now, she wished she had looked a little harder for him. Apparently, she was very lost, and the map that she had gotten that morning really didn't help at all.

She turned a corner, looking on the map to see if she was any closer to the library, which was where she was trying to go. When she looked up again, she had to take a step back in shock.

"Oh my…" she trailed off. She wasn't sure what to think about what she saw on the wall in front of her. It was a giant poster of what she noticed was the East High basketball team. All of the players were on there, but were gathered around the biggest, which was Troy.

"Same reaction as always." Gabriella heard someone mutter. She turned and saw two girls, standing on the other side of hallway, leaning against the wall.

"Tell me about it." The other girl replied.

"Pardon me?" Gabriella was confused by their comments. One of the girls, a smaller looking girl with glasses, looked up at her.

"Oh, well…" she obviously hadn't expected Gabriella to actually hear anything, and sounded nervous. No one usually heard their comments.

"That tends to be the usual reaction to him." Her friend finished for her.

"Reaction to who?" Gabriella was lost. The second girl nudged her head towards the poster, as if it was obvious. "Troy?" she asked.

The girls both nodded. "He has a school wide fan club." The girl with the glasses informed her.

With that, Gabriella couldn't help but burst into laughter. "Are you serious?" she asked, unable to believe them. But they both nodded, confirming the truth. Gabby stopped laughing. "So that's why I got all of the glares in cafeteria." She figured it out.

"Glares?" one of the girls asked.

Her friend didn't look quite as confused. "You must be the girl everyone was freaking out about because you hugged him at lunch." she thought aloud.

"Yeah, I'm starting to think that was a mistake. I had no idea…" Gabby sighed. "Anyways, I'd better find the library, I've got catching up to." She told the two girls.

"Hold on." One of the girls stopped her.. "You don't like Troy Bolton?"

Gabriella let out a little giggle. "No." she calmed herself down. "No way." She informed them. "We're...old friends." she added.

"Well then. We were wrong about you." The girl said. "I'm Taylor, and this is Kelsi." She introduced herself and the other girl.

Gabriella was a little confused. "Gabriella." She responded politely. "What do you mean you were wrong about me?" she asked.

Taylor and Kelsi looked at each other. Obviously this girl didn't know how East high worked. "You're so new it's not even funny." Taylor shook her head.

"Don't worry, you'll understand everything soon enough." Kelsi assured her.

This was beginning to frustrate Gabriella. She had been told that same thing twice now. "What is it exactly that I have to understand?" she asked, wanting to know.

Taylor smiled. "Okay Gabriella, you seem like a nice girl so I'm going to help you out here." She said, beginning to make her way down the hall, Kelsi right beside her. Gabriella had no choice but to follow.

"Okay…" Gabby waited.

Taylor took a deep breath. "Troy Bolton is…"

"Are you trash talking my friend again McKessie?" a voice interrupted her. The three girls turned around and saw that Chad and Troy himself were standing behind them.

"No. But it's adorable how you always seem to protect him." Taylor shot back smoothly.

Chad ignored that comment and looked over at the girl beside her. "Hey Gabriella, how's it going?" he asked her happily.

Gabby was completely caught between the two guys and two girls. "Um…" she started.

"Are Taylor and Kelsi bugging you?" he asked.

"Well…" she started.

"Of course we aren't Danforth." Taylor didn't let her say anything.

"Really, what makes you think that?" Chad asked with a smirk.

Taylor rolled her eyes. "Because we can at lest provide stimulating conversation, unlike some certain lunk-head basketball players I know of." She told him.

"Um…" Gabriella tried to interject with little success.

"Wow, that hurts." Chad put a hand to his heart in mock pain.

"Yeah, well it should." Taylor seemed satisfied.

Chad was about to come back with something when their two friends seemed to decide that it had gone far enough. "Guys, shut up!" Troy and Kelsi both yelled. Everyone fell silent.

"This school is so weird." Gabriella came to a conclusion, before deciding to just get away so that she could think. "I'll see you guys later."

"Good job Chad, you scared her off." Taylor instantly started at it again when she had disappeared.

"I scared her off?" Chad gave a little laugh. "I think you're mistaken there."

While their friends argued, Troy sighed and leaned against the wall, not bothering to try and stop Chad again. Kelsi did the same, opening the book she had been holding under her arm and beginning to read.

This would last a while.


	5. Dinner Guests

**Alright, so since you guys are GREAT at reviewing, I decided to give you the next chapter, since it's already written.**

**There are two more that are already written (it's a little behind on here) so when I get some feedback, I'll post them up too. :D**

**Chapter 5: Dinner Guests**

"Gabby, are you almost ready to go? Her mom asked that night.

"Yeah…" Gabriella hid her groan, walking downstairs. They were about to leave for dinner at some old friend's of her parents. Gaby hadn't really been too interested in going, but figured she'd go anyways to make her parents happy.

"How was your first day at school?" her dad asked.

Gabby thought about it. Honestly, there was no way that she could possibly describe her first day at East High. "It was alright…" she told him, somewhat distantly.

"It'll get better." Her dad put his arm around her, giving her a kiss in the forehead. Gabriella couldn't help but roll her eyes, which made her mom give a little laugh.

"So, where are we going anyways?" Gabby asked, picking up her purse and getting ready to go.

Her parents gave each other a look. "Well…" her dad started.

"You remember the Bolton's don't you?" her mom finished carefully.

Gabriella nearly dropped her purse. "The Bolton's?" she repeated.

"Yeah." Her mom replied. "We thought we would surprise you." She told her daughter.

"We're seriously going to the Bolton's?" Gabriella asked.

"Yes." Her father confirmed.

"Just think, you and Troy can reunite." Her mom said cheerfully. "Remember how close you two were when you were little?" she gave a little laugh. "Actually, I'm surprised you didn't see him at school today."

Gabby sighed. Her parents were so oblivious sometimes. "I did see him at school today." She informed them.

"Really? That's great!" her mom said happily.

"Yep. Great." Gabby wanted her to stop. "Can we just go?" she asked them both.

Before her mom could say anything else, her dad nodded, seeming to notice Gabriella's urgency to end this conversation. "Sure, let's go." He told her, grabbing the car keys, and leading them out of the house.

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Troy walked downstairs when he smelt dinner cooking. He curiously went into the kitchen, to see his mom rushing around in the kitchen. She wordlessly handed him a pile of cutlery just as he was about to open his mouth as ask what was going on. "Uh…mom?" he asked.

"Just go and set the table please Troy." Mrs. Bolton continued rushing around. "They should be here any minute now." She told him.

"Who?" Troy asked, remembering his mom had said something about dinner that morning. He had been in too much of a rush to care.

"You'll see…" The doorbell suddenly rang, interrupting her. "Now I guess." She put down what she had been holding and rushed out of the kitchen. "Jack!" she called for her husband. "They're here!"

"Who?" This was beginning to frustrate Troy. He had no choice but to follow his parents to the front door to see who it was. He was surprised to see the familiar faces of Mr. and Mrs. Montez, followed closely by Gabriella, who didn't look quite as confident as she had at school that day.

Suddenly Troy found himself wondering why his parents hadn't told hi they were coming over. But it occurred to him that this must have been what his mom had been trying to tell him all day. He made a mental note to listen to her more often, so he could avoid this kind of surprise.

"Troy, look at you!" his thoughts were interrupted by Mrs. Montez. "All grown up." She gave him a big hug.

"Yeah…" Troy could see that his parents were doing the same to Gabriella.

"Wow, it seems like yesterday when we were last in this house." Her mom said happily.

"Come on, let's go sit down!" Troy's mom told them all. Once their parents had cleared out of the front hall, Troy and Gabriella were left in the silence.

"Did you…know about this?" Gabby asked awkwardly after a moment. "Like today at school maybe?" she added.

"No." Troy shook his head right away. "I mean, my mom tried to tell me a bunch of times." He told her. "Now I really wish I had listened." He sighed.

Gabriella couldn't help but give a small laugh. "Okay." She said. Neither of them said anything for the longest time. She wasn't exactly sure what to say to him, not after today. "I guess we should probably…"

"Kids, time for dinner!" Troy's mom interrupted her.

"Go for dinner." Gabby finished.

"Yeah." Troy sighed.

Both of them inwardly groaned at how awkward this was. Why did it have to be this way? They were just supposed to be more then comfortable together. But obviously…things had changed.

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Luckily, dinner wasn't too bad. It had mostly been the two families catching up. Both Troy and Gabriella had gotten numerous questions from each other's parents. So overall, the two hadn't had to deal with any more awkward silences.

But after dinner, their parents decided to go back to the living room to talk for who knows how long. That was when Gabriella finally got sick of the awkwardness. So she pulled Troy out into the hallway.

"What the…" Troy was a little surprised.

"Can we like…" Gabby bit her lip. "Go for a walk or something?" She asked. "I think we need to just, talk. Alone." She told him.

"Okay." Troy said a little oddly.

They quickly told their parents they were going out. They agreed happily, and went out into the night. For a while they walked along the sidewalk in silence before Gabriella finally figured out what she wanted to say.

"This is so weird." She shook her head. "I feel like I've gone back in time but everything has changed." She sighed.

"I can't believe my parents didn't tell me you were coming back." Troy said out of the blue.

"Yeah that's weird." Gabriella agreed. "Would this be different?" she asked. "I mean, if you had known that I was coming?"

Troy shrugged. "I honestly don't know." He thought back to how shocked he had been at school that day when he first saw her. "Truthfully, I don't think anything could have prepared me for seeing you again today."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Gabriella looked at him.

"Well…" Troy wasn't sure how to put this. "Let's just say, you've changed." He told her uneasily.

Gabriella laughed. "Okay," she said weirdly. "I'm not really sure how to respond to that." She added.

"I'm pretty sure it's good change." Troy assured her. "If that helps."

Gabby laughed again before stopping and looking at him. "See, I think we needed this walk. Things were just too weird before." She told him.

"You really think so?" Troy said sarcastically, a smirk on his face.

Gabriella felt something she hadn't felt in a long time. It was as if things had gone back to how they had been years ago. Out of nowhere she rolled her eyes and gave him a little playful punch on the arm. "Shut up." She laughed, before running off ahead.

Troy stood there for a minute, wondering what had just happened. Then he realized what she just had, and ran after her. Were things back to the way hey had been when they were eleven years old? She had definitely just treated him the way she had back then.

But while he caught up to her, both of them laughing when he caught her around the waist, Troy couldn't help but think that the old days just weren't good enough now.

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**Oh, and I just wanted to answer a few questions I saw in reviews.**

**1... The relationship between Gabby and Troy:**

**Let's just say that these two will figure things out eventually. They're both confused, and probably will be for a while. They only know each other as friends, but they have both changed a lot.**

**This is a troyella though, so they'll figure it out eventually ;)**

**2... Chaylor:**

**I haven't really decided about them yet. Probably, eventually they will come along. I just love their bickering lol.**


	6. New Acquaintances

**Net Chapter. Thanks so much for the reviews so far!**

**Hope you like this one****  
**

**Chapter 6: New Acquaintances**

When Gabriella walked into East High the next morning, she felt ten times better then she had the day before. It was nice to know that there were already a few friendly faces in the huge school.

"Hey there." She heard a familiar voice and turned around.

"Oh, hey Chad." Gabriella smiled at him. "What's up?" she asked.

He shrugged. "I figured you could use some company walking to class." He told her. "Plus it's Mr. Matsui's orders so I really should follow them." He added.

"I thought you were a trouble maker?" Gabriella said, catching him off guard. Chad looked a little uncomfortable for a moment before she let herself smile. "I'm kidding." She laughed. "Thanks for walking with me." She told him.

"No problem." Chad laughed. The two of them turned the corner and stopped when their path was blocked by what seemed like a wall of cheerleaders.

A pretty brunette in the front smiled a very fake smile. "Hi, I'm Rachel." She said in a far to perky voice. She looked at Gabriella. "We wanted to welcome you." She added. "Since you seem to have made quite an entrance." She finished.

Gabriella noticed the same girl that had glared at her and flicked her hair the day before at lunch standing in the group. This was obviously not a warm welcome. "It's good to be here." She wasn't about to let a cheerleader get the best of her. So she shook Rachel's hand carefully.

"Wonderful." Rachel told her. "We'll see you around then." She said. "Bye Chad." She added before leaving.

Gabriella just stood there for a moment. "Okay…" she wasn't exactly sure what to say about that.

"I have to say Ms. Montez, it seems like you haven't exactly made the best impression on those girls." Chad pointed out.

"Yeah, you just figured that out?" Gabriella laughed. She shook it off and continued down the hall.

Chad followed her. "Hold on, I don't think you understand what this means." He waned her.

"I'm not scared of those girls, if that's what you're implying." Gabriella told him.

"Well I think you should be." He told her.

Gabriella shook her head. "Look, I understand that Troy is like…basketball god to you all, but that doesn't mean that I'm going to run around all scared because I accidentally hugged him," she informed Chad. "You know, in a friends kind of way." She added to make sure he didn't get the wrong idea.

"Basketball god?" Chad raised his eyebrows. "That's a new one." He laughed.

Gabriella glared at him. "You know what I mean." She said.

Chad merely shrugged. "Well I have to hand it to you," he told her. "You seem to have managed to threaten almost every girl in this school in one day of being here."

Gabby sighed. "Just because of Troy?" she asked more seriously.

"As you said…basketball god." Chad replied jokingly

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Later on in the day, Gabriella was at her locker when Taylor came out of nowhere. She nearly caused Gabby to drop half of the textbooks that she had been putting away.

"Wow, are you like scared someone's going to attack you or something?" Taylor laughed lightly, as if that was the most insane thing she had ever heard.

"No, not really." Gabriella told her. "But according to Chad, I should be watching my back since the cheerleaders apparently hate me." She said.

Taylor looked thoughtful. "Well, you better never repeat this, to anyone, ever, but I sort of agree with Danforth on that one." She shrugged.

"Seriously?" Gabriella couldn't believe this. "They're cheerleaders." She just couldn't wrap her head around that.

"Yeah, but if they don't like you then…" Taylor started.

"Okay, okay I get it." Gabriella sighed. "I feel like this is all I have talked about today." She told her new friend. "Where's Kelsi, you two seem like you are usually together."

Taylor held in a laugh. "Actually, it's funny you should ask." She told Gabby, who looked curious right away. "She's helping the ice queen right now, and we have to go and get her." She informed her.

"Ice queen?" Gabby was afraid to ask.

"Yeah." Taylor sighed dramatically. "Sharpay Evans…pretty much the school's drama queen." She began. "She has enslaved her poor twin brother to ensure that she gets every lead role in the school musicals." She told her.

"Seriously?" Gabby asked again.

"Yeah." Taylor nodded.

"So where does Kelsi fit into that?" Gabriella asked.

"Well, Kelsi loves writing music." Taylor informed her. "Everything she writes is brilliant. But unfortunately a few years back, Sharpay discovered Kelsi's talents, and decided that she would use Kelsi as her little music slave or whatever."

"And Kelsi is okay with that?" Gabby asked.

"No not really. Taylor shrugged.

"So why does she do it then?" Gabriella couldn't understand why Kelsi would want to go through what seemed like torture.

"Well, she really wants Ms. Darbus, the drama teacher, to use her music for one of the school plays, and since Sharpay is teachers pet, Kelsi has to go through her." Taylor shrugged. "I honestly don't think it's worth it, but hey, I'm not Kelsi."

Gabriella nodded. "I see."

"Come on." Taylor told her. "The thing is, I have to go in at a certain time and rescue Kelsi." She said. "She can only take so much of the Evans at one time, but they tend to want to keep her for hours."

"Okay…" Gabriella said uneasily, trying to keep up while Taylor walked quickly through the halls. Gabby was still having trouble getting around.

Finally Taylor stopped in front of a pair of doors and looked at Gabriella. "Are you ready for your first encounter with Sharpay Evans?"

"I guess." Gabby shrugged. She didn't really have any other choice but to be ready for it.

"Okay." Taylor smirked and opened the doors.

Gabriella heard the sound of a piano and someone singing. When she looked up, she saw Kelsi sitting at a piano, which was set up on stage. Beside the piano stood two blondes. The girl was covered head to toe in either something pink, or sparkly. The boy standing beside her matched her, which shocked Gabriella. They were so obviously twins. It scared her a little.

When she heard the door, the girl abruptly stopped singing and peered out into the sea of red chairs. "Oh, lovely." She muttered upon seeing the two.

Taylor ignored that comment and tried to look sincere. "Look, I hate to just barge in like this, but Kelsi promised me she'd help show Gabriella around a bit."

"I did?" Kelsi asked dumbly. Taylor gave her a look. "Oh yeah, I did!" Kelsi fixed her mistake. "Sorry, we'll have to cut this short." She told the two blondes.

Apparently they were more interested in the new girl standing beside Taylor. Suddenly Sharpay stuck out a hand and looked at Gabriella with the fakest smile she had ever seen. "Hi, you must be the new girl." She said. "I'm Sharpay, and this is Ryan." She introduced herself.

Gabriella couldn't help but find the tone of her voice oddly familiar to the one that Rachel the cheerleader had used this morning. "Nice to met you." Gabriella replied, lightly taking her hand.

"Sure." Sharpay said. Her fake smile had turned into a sort of glare.

"Well then." Taylor wanted to stop this before Sharpay's claws came out. "Let's go then, shall we Kels?" she interjected.

"Yeah." Kelsi hastily agreed. "See you later Sharpay!" she called. The three of them took off down one of the aisles before Sharpay could stop them.

"Finally, let's go!" Taylor sighed when they were out in the hall. "Hey Gabriella, I forgot to ask, do you want to come over to my place for a bit. We usually get our homework done, then hang out for a bit." She told her.

That sounded like an offer Gabriella could refuse. "Sure, that sounds great." She said.

"Good." Kelsi smiled. "Let's go." She led them to the front doors of East high, where Gabriella stopped abruptly when she realized she had forgotten something in her locker.

"Oh, I left my History textbook in my locker, mind if I run and get it?" she asked quickly.

"Sure, we're in no rush." Taylor shrugged. She sat down on the steps. "We'll wait here." She informed Gabby.

"Perfect." Gabriella said before rushing back into the school. She made it to her locker successfully and grabbed her book. Unfortunately when she turned the corner on the way back out, she was greeted by the same wall of cheerleaders that had stopped her and Chad that morning. "Uh…hi?" she said carefully.

Rachel gave a little laugh. "Gabriella, do you have a minute?" she asked with a fake sweetness.

Did she have a minute? No, she really didn't. She was supposed to be getting outside to meet Taylor and Kelsi. "Actually, I'm sort of in a rush, sorry." She excused herself and tried to walk past. But just as she stepped forward, a cheerleader stuck out her hand and put it on the locker. Her arm was blocking Gabriella's path. Gabby ended up taking a step backwards.

"Just a minute." Rachel repeated her words.

Gabriella could not believe this. Was she about to be taken hostage by a pack of cheerleaders? Chad and Taylor may have actually been right. But that didn't mean she was going to give up. "Look, I'd love to stay and chat but…"

"She needs to come with me." Someone interrupted her. Gabriella suddenly felt an arm come around her shoulders and looked up to see Troy standing beside her. The cheerleaders seemed to shrink back. "Sorry girls." He apologized.

"Oh, okay." Rachel shrugged casually, though it was obvious inside that she was fuming. "I guess we'll just do this some other time then." She said. "Bye Troy, bye Gabriella." She said Gabriella's name with a tinge of bitterness.

"Later." Troy watched them go, laughing lightly when they were all gone.

"What is so funny?" Gabriella asked somewhat bitterly. That had been her third encounter that day with girls who seemed to hate her guts. She started walking in the direction she had been going, and noticed that Troy kept walking with her, his arm still around her shoulders.

"Nothing." He shrugged. "It's just that Chad was so right, those girls are out to get you." He informed her.

"Oh, yeah…" Gabby should have known Chad would tell him. "Well, unfortunately they aren't the only ones." She told Troy.

"Really? Who else hates you?" Troy asked.

Gabriella looked at him and was shocked to see a smirk on his face. "You think this is funny don't you?" she asked.

"Well don't you?" he asked.

She shrugged. "I honestly don't know anymore." She sighed.

"Who else hates you?" Troy asked curiously.

"Apparently Sharpay Evans." Gabriella replied.

"Oh…" Troy nodded. "I don't know who's worse, Sharpay or Rachel…" he said thoughtfully. "I think it would be best if you stuck with Chad or me for a while." He advised.

Gabriella rolled her eyes. "Well your concern is touching, but I don't need protection." She informed him, shrugging his arm off of her shoulders.

"Oh but I think you do." he told her. "I mean, what would you have done just now if I hadn't saved you?" he asked.

Gabby shrugged. "I don't know…I would have figured out something."

"Right." Troy nodded, just as they got to the front doors.

She stopped and turned to face him. "Are you actually going in this direction, or are you just following me?" she suddenly asked, dropping the last topic of conversation.

Troy looked a little hesitant. "Actually, I have basketball practice, which I am now late for." He admitted.

"Okay." Gabby laughed. "Well I have to go, I'll see you later." She told him, continuing to walk away.

"What, no thank you?" Troy called after her.

Gabriella stopped and turned around to look at him. "Thank you Troy, for saving me from the vicious, life threatening pack of cheerleaders." She elaborated jokingly, a smirk on her face.

"Anytime." He waved back casually, before disappearing back into the school, leaving Gabriella to roll her eyes before joining back up with Taylor and Kelsi


	7. Swings

**Chapter 7: Swings**

"I always knew those girls were missing some part of their brains." Taylor rolled her eyes when Gabriella told her what had happened in the halls that afternoon when she had run to get her books.

"Wait, but how did you get away from them?" Kelsi asked.

Gabriella had purposely left out the part of the story where Troy came in, simply because she knew that Taylor and Kelsi were not exactly his biggest fans. But now, they were looking at her and waiting for her to reply. "Well…um," she started. "Troy just sort of came out of nowhere." She told them.

Taylor nodded slowly. "And let me guess, those girls magically backed off when he was there?" she asked.

That wasn't the reaction Gabby had expected. In the few short days that she had known Taylor and Kelsi, she head learned that the mention Troy Bolton usually caused them to go off on a tangent about how everyone was obsessed with him. "Yeah." She replied.

Taylor and Kelsi gave each other a look and smiled. "That's perfect." Kelsi told Gabriella.

"What? Why?" Gabby was confused.

Taylor sighed. "Gabriella, don't you see? You can have all of the power here. You don't have to be afraid of the cheerleaders, or any other girls" She said. "In fact, they should be afraid of you." She added.

"Why?" Gabriella repeated herself.

"Because obviously you have something they don't." Kelsi informed her.

"And that would be?" Gabriella wished they would just get on with it.

"You, Gabriella Montez, have the attention of Troy Bolton." Taylor told her with a smile.

Gabriella couldn't help but laugh at that, which of course got weird looks from Taylor and Kelsi. "I'm sorry, but this school is just so…." She laughed. "Seriously, having Troy's attention is like some sort of secret weapon?" She asked to make sure she had heard that right.

"Yes." Kelsi replied right away

Taylor shook her head at Gabriella's reaction reaction. She turned to her and looked at her seriously. "Gabby, you have Troy Bolton's attention, you don't need to be afraid of anything." She informed her. "In fact, you can do whatever you want."

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That night, Gabriella decided she better get some unpacking done. The movers had already set up all of her furniture, and she had unpacked most of her clothes within the first few days of getting to the house. Now all she had to do was take all of her random stuff out. There were two boxes filled with pictures, decorations, posters, and everything that was really special.

She opened one of the boxes and saw something she didn't recognize on top of the pile of things she had packed. It was about the size of a shoebox, and covered with bright wrapping paper and a ribbon. She curiously picked it up and opened it.

There was a pile of pictures and a piece of paper, folded up and sitting on top of the stack. She picked that up first and unfolded it, beginning to read it right away.

_Hey Gabby!_

_We don't know when you'll be getting this, because it depends on how long it takes you to unpack. But anyways, we figured this would be a nice surprise, a little goodbye present. Everyone agrees that you're the greatest girl around, so don't forget that okay?_

_Anyways, we love you Gabs, and we'll miss you so much! You better stay in touch!_

_Love,_

_Andy, Logan, Riley, Amber and Seth_

_P.S. This is a collection of pictures from all of us to you. We snuck it in to your stuff. They're all good memories, so look at them if you ever feel lonely in Albuquerque._

Gabriella couldn't help but let her tears fall when she read the words her friends had written. She could practically see them all getting together to write this. Andy would be in control as always, Seth would be joking around and causing a fuss, and Amber and Riley would be talking about something completely off topic. Logan would most likely be the only calm one. He would have been laughing at Seth, and calming down Andy when she got frustrated that they were getting nowhere.

She smiled a little through her tears, and put the letter down on the floor beside the box. Then, she carefully took out the pile of photos and started looking through them. She realized quickly it was a bad idea, since she was already upset. The pictures of her and her friends through the years made it ten times worse.

She was wiping away some tears when there was a knock on her door, which she knew was open. She turned was surprised to see who was standing there. "Oh, hey Troy." She quickly put the pictures back in the box and stood up. "What are you…"

"Are you okay?" He asked at the same time. They both stopped right away to let the other speak. After a bit of an awkward moment Troy decided to just go for it. "Sorry, your mom said you were up here." He told her.

"Oh, okay." Gabby replied. She wished he hadn't caught her like this.

"Are you okay?" Troy asked again.

Gabriella nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine…I just," she started to explain. "My friends made a little goodbye thing and I just found it." She told him.

"I see." Troy wasn't sure of what to say to that.

Gabriella could tell she had put him in a weird place. "Did you come by for anything in particular?" She asked.

He shrugged. "I guess I just wanted to see if you wanted to hang out." He told her. Now when he thought about it, it seemed like such a stupid idea.

"Actually, I could use some fresh air." Gabriella smiled. "I've been unpacking for hours." She sighed.

"Sounds good to me." Troy smiled back.

They went out and started walking along the sidewalk in silence. It was a beautiful night, not too cold. After a long while, Gabriella looked over at him. "So…" she started, not sure what to say.

"Tell me about your friends." Troy said.

"What do you want to hear?" she asked.

"Anything." He told her.

That brought a smile to Gabriella's face. "Well, they're a funny group actually." She told him. "First there are the twins, who are actually so different from each other. Amber is completely artsy, while Riley is completely into surfing, it's all she ever does." She gave a little laugh. "Then there's Andy, who is just…crazy, and Seth, who is completely in love with her but too afraid to do anything about it." She said happily. Troy watched her light up while she talked about her friends. "Then there's Logan." She added, her face falling a little. "He's just…the perfect mix of everything." She said somewhat distantly.

"Oh." Troy wasn't sure how to reply to all of that.

Gabriella looked up and smiled. "Look." She told him.

"What?" Troy asked. He looked in the direction she was looking and smiled. It was a little park, fully equipped with a playground and swings.

Suddenly Gabriella turned to him. "I bet I can still get higher then you on the swings." She challenged, a smirk on her face.

"Oh really?" Troy laughed.

"Yep." Gabby laughed too, walking over to the swings and hopping onto one. She started swinging, feeling like a kid again. Troy was doing the exact same thing on the swing next to hers.

They competed for a while like they had so many times when they were kids. Then, suddenly Troy slowed down and jumped off, landing on the sand on both feet. "You win." He shrugged and smirked.

"Aw no fair." Gabriella laughed. She jumped off her own swing, but lost her balance and ran straight into Troy, he caught her before they could both fall. She was about to pull away, when she looked up. She stopped laughing right away. She had forgotten just how blue his eyes were.

Without even thinking about it, they both slowly started moving in, staring silently at each other. Neither of them could stop the memory from years ago from coming into their minds.

- - -

_It was a hot summer day and Troy and Gabriella were at a park near his house. They had been kicked out of the house to go and play, like they often were when their parents were around. Now they were swinging on the swings, having a competition to see who could go higher, like they always did._

_Troy was eight years old and thought he was on top of the world. Every time he flew up high on the swing, it felt like he could touch the fluffy clouds in the sky. But then he would swing back down, and he would see Gabby flying up high. She was always there to bring him back down to earth._

_But then all of a sudden, she started slowing down. Troy watched as she came to a stop, a thoughtful look on her face. He stopped swinging too, wondering what it was that was wrong._

"_Troy, have you ever kissed a girl before?" Gabriella asked curiously._

"_No, why?" Troy wondered where this was going._

_Gabby shrugged. "Penny, from school said she kissed a boy." She told him. "But she wouldn't tell me what it was like." She pouted._

_Troy could tell that this was really bugging Gabriella, and when she became curious about something he ended up feeling the same way. "Well, what if we tried?" he suggested._

"_I don't know…" Gabby was unsure._

"_We don't have to tell anyone." Troy told her._

"_Pinky swear?" she asked. Troy willingly stuck out his pinky and she shook it with hers. "Okay then." She told him._

_The two of them stood face to face, and leaned in until their lips met. A split second later, they both pulled away. "Ew!" Troy was first to say._

"_Double ew." Gabby agreed. "How do older kids do that?" she asked._

_Troy shrugged. "I don't know.," he said. "Let's go home, I'm hungry."_

"_You're always hungry." Gabriella rolled her eyes. "Plus, if you eat now you wont eat any dinner you know."_

"_Fine." Troy scowled._

_The two kids walked home together, not knowing that the moment they had just shared would be something they would laugh about years later._

- - -

Gabriella suddenly gave a small laugh and moved away a bit, separating herself from Troy. "What?" he asked curiously.

She shook her head. "Nothing." She smiled at him, pushing her old memories away.

"Okay." He accepted that, still somewhat dazed from what had just happened.

"I should probably get home." She told him. She felt a little weird now, wondering what had just happened between them. They hadn't almost kissed had they? "I still have tons of unpacking to do." She added.

"Yeah okay." Troy nodded.

He walked her home, and they both went their separate ways. But no matter how hard they tried to push it away, neither of them could stop thinking about what had almost happened in the park. Surely it couldn't have? They were friends, and had always been friends.

Whatever it was, it wasn't about to be ignored.


	8. Hot Stuff

**Hey, so this is WAY overdue, I'm sorry!**

**I've been meaning to get something up for ages, but I was just never able to get it up.**

**Anyways, here's a nice long chapter now**

**Hope you like it!**

**Chapter 8: Hot Stuff**

Gabriella was into her third week now at East High. She was finally getting used to everything. But that didn't stop her from having more and more encounters with the cheerleaders. It also seemed as if Sharpay Evans had formed some sort of grudge towards her too, since the times she had run into her in the halls, hadn't exactly been filled with a whole lot of warmth.

Along with the increasing girl related issues, Gabriella seemed to be having some problems with Troy as well. She had found out just how busy he was with basketball, and had hardly seen him. But, when they did hang out things were usually awkward for a while, which was hard to get out of. Neither of them were able to get that moment from the park out of their head, even days later.

But she'd had a happy little distraction the night before. Her car had finally arrived to their new house. Apparently there had been some weird difficulty with getting it moved, so it had been slightly delayed. But now it was here and she was able to drive it, her bright red little mustang convertible, given to her by her parents on her sixteenth birthday a year ago.

In fact, that morning she decided she'd put it to use, and had driven it to school. She usually drove right past the Bolton's house and secretly found herself hoping that Troy might just be coming out this morning.

What do you know, her wish came true. She could see someone coming out the front door up ahead, sports bag hanging off of one shoulder and school bag dangling from the other arm. It was unmistakably Troy. Her car caught his attention as she neared, so she stopped when she saw him looking.

She took off her sunglasses and looked at him. "Want a ride to school?" she called up the driveway.

He looked slightly stunned, possibly still half asleep. But it was an offer he couldn't resist. Hot car, hot girl…how could he not. Wait had he really just thought that? "Why not." He replied with a smile, throwing his stuff in the back before hopping in the front.

"Good." She smiled back before driving off, the wind hitting both of their faces.

When she stopped at a light, Troy looked at her, wanting an explanation. "So where did this come from? He asked curiously. He hadn't seen her driving this before.

"This was my sixteenth birthday present." She said happily. "It took a while to get here from California for some reason, but now it's here." She smiled.

"Seriously?" Troy asked.

Gabby nodded. "That was the same reaction I had when they gave it to me." She laughed. Then the light changed, and Troy wasn't able to respond, so he just relaxed and enjoyed the nice ride to school. It was a beautiful day.

At the next stoplight Gabriella leaned over a bit and turned on the radio. She turned the volume up high so the music was blasting through the speakers. Troy laughed when he looked over and she was bobbing her head to the beat.

"What?" She asked when she caught him laughing.

He shook his head. "You realize we're going to make quite the scene when we drive up to school." He pointed out.

Gabby shrugged. "Whatever, its kind of fun sometimes." She laughed. "Plus, I told you, I'm not afraid of a bunch of cheerleaders, or some crazy drama queen." She reminded him.

"Someday you'll regret saying those things." Troy told her.

"Someday you'll finally believe me." Gabby shot back.

They both ended up laughing at that, and Troy realized he might as well drop it. "I just remembered that now I'm going to have to walk home because I didn't drive my car to school." He shook his head, annoyed with himself.

Gabriella looked over at him. "Can't you just get a ride home with daddy?" she asked, her eyebrows raised. For some reason she had found it absolutely hilarious that Mr. Bolton worked at East high, and coached Troy's basketball. It wasn't like it was abnormal or anything, but it was always weird to see her practically second father wandering the halls. She tried to hold in her laugh but failed miserably.

"You know I liked you better when you were little." Troy told her. "You were a lot nicer back then." He smirked.

"Hey, I'm nice now." she argued. "Look at me giving you a ride to school." She pointed out.

"Whatever you say." Troy told her. With that, Gabriella turned the radio up even higher and went back to focusing on driving. It wasn't long after that they pulled up in front of the big red and white school, of course, turning heads of the students gathering outside.

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Hours later, Gabriella was walking to lunch, lost in thought, and thankful for once that so far no one had bothered her in any way. But one thing she had learned was that she would never be left alone. Not in this school anyway. So this momentary peace wouldn't last long.

"Gabby!" Taylor and Kelsi were breathing hard when they caught up with her.

"Oh hey guys, what's up?" Gabriella was a little surprised. There went the peacefulness.

"Are you deaf or something? We've been trying to catch up with you for a while now." Kelsi told her.

Gabriella let out a little laugh. "Sorry, I must have been distracted or something." She shrugged, hugging her books to herself.

The two girls beside her shared a look. "Okay, what's up, you're acting weird today." Taylor told her.

"It's nothing, don't worry about it." Gabby told her, knowing that if either of them heard that she was thinking about Troy Bolton, she'd have to listen to them go on about it for who knows how long. "What do you guys want?" she asked them, finding herself suddenly curious.

"There's somewhere we want to take you tonight." Kelsi started things off.

"Cool, where?" Gabby asked.

"We can't tell you." Taylor told her.

She was a little confused now. "Uh…okay." She said oddly. "Am I going to like it or no?" she asked.

"I think you'll like it." Taylor smiled. "Just come to my house after school okay?" she told her.

"Sure." Gabriella wasn't exactly sure about this, but she figured she might as well give it a go.

"Perfect." Kelsi smiled.

"It's going to be great." Taylor added excitedly.

"Yeah." Gabby said, half excited, half off in her own little world again. It seemed that Troy was already beginning to fill her thoughts again. She tried to focus on what Taylor and Kelsi were talking about, but he distracted her.

She had to put an end to this, it was beginning to drive her nuts. She had to find him sometime today and talk to him, no matter how weird it might be.

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Troy was sitting in the library, trying to get some work done. He usually had to use just about every spare minute of free periods that he didn't have a workout for actual schoolwork. So far, he hadn't gotten much work done today. He was just too distracted.

The fact was, he just couldn't stop thinking about what had almost happened with Gabriella a few nights before. As much as he tried to get those thoughts to go away, hey just wouldn't leave his mind. That and the sudden ride to school this morning were confusing him. She had just changed so much, and had gone from shy little girl to….

"Troy!" someone's voice broke his thoughts, thank god. "Troy?" Chad poked his best friend to try and get his attention.

"Yeah? What? Sorry." Troy replied all at once.

Chad rolled his eyes. "Gosh, are you off in some other world today man?" he asked.

"Uh…no." Troy lied. "What do you want?" he asked.

Chad was suddenly more interested in his friend's weird behavior then the question he had wanted to ask. "Seriously, what's up?" he raised his eyebrows, waiting for an answer.

Troy knew that Chad wouldn't stop now until he knew. "Fine…okay." He turned slightly in his chair so no one else would hear. "So the other night went to just go and hang out with Gabriella, and…I don't know, we were just hanging out and…"

"Something happened didn't it?" Chad interrupted him, coming to his own conclusion.

"Well, I'm not exactly…" Troy started.

"Troy!" an excited sounding voice interrupted him.

He winced slightly, knowing exactly who it probably was. Nevertheless, he turned on his regular charm and looked up. "Hey Rachel." He smiled at the girl standing in front of him. She was exactly who she had expected. "What's up?" he asked.

"Oh nothing, I just wanted to make sure you boys were going to Jason's party tonight." She told them.

Troy's first thought was, is this really a necessary question? Jason was one of his best friends. He had been the first person that Jason had asked to come. So yes, of course they were going. "Who isn't going?" he said a moment later with his usual charm.

"Perfect." Rachel gave a little giggle. "Well, see you there then." She said before walking away to join the rest of her friends, who were all sitting a few tables away.

Chad rolled his eyes. "Anyways…" he said. "Tell me what happened with you and Gabriella."

"Um…" Troy started, but his focus was taken away again when the library doors opened and, perfect timing, Gabriella came in, a bunch of books in her arms. If just the thought of her was distracting, now he wasn't going to be able to do any work at all. But apparently she hadn't seen them, since she started heading right past the table they were at.

"Hey hot stuff." Chad greeted her jokingly before she could fully get by.

Gabby stopped mid step and looked at the two of them. "Oh." She smiled. "Only you would say something like that Chad." She told him, coming closer.

"I think you like it." Chad told her, a smirk on his face.

"Right." Gabriella laughed and shook her head lightly, before turning her attention to Troy. "Hey Troy." She smiled at him.

"Uh…hey. What's up?" he asked a little awkwardly.

"Nothing." She looked a little curious. "Are you okay?" she asked.

Chad apparently decided he would reply for Troy. "Yeah, he's fine, he is just having troubles…"

"With the chemistry homework." Troy cut him off before he could say anything embarrassing. That was a total lie, but it was better then the truth.

"Really?" Gabby asked. "Do need help?" she asked unexpectedly.

"Oh no, it's okay, I've got it." He told her, hoping he had gotten out of that.

"Are you sure? I used to help out all of my friends." She told him.

Chad gave a little laugh. "No offence, but you? A chemistry whiz?" he asked.

"You learn new things everyday don't you?" Gabby told him. She waited for a reply from Chad, but for once, he couldn't come up with anything. "Anyways, I'd better go work." She told them "See you guys later."

A thought suddenly came to Troy's mind. "Hey Gabby, what are you doing tonight?" he asked before she could leave.

"Why?" she asked curiously.

"Oh yeah, the party." Chad said. "You should totally come."

"Well whose party is it?" Gabby was curious. She hadn't really done much since she got here.

"Our friend Jason's" Troy told her.

"It's going to be big." Chad added.

Gabriella pretended to look thoughtful for a moment. "I don't know, I'll have to see." She shrugged, honestly, it sounded great, but she had already promised Taylor and Kelsi she would do whatever it was that they were planning, and she didn't feel like telling those guys that. Then, she walked away to go and study.

This time, they didn't stop her. In fact, they both watched her walked away. Troy looked at Chad and saw him shaking his head. "That girl is seriously something else." He commented.

Troy sighed. "Yeah, tell me about it." He muttered. That was when he realized there was something he had to do.

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"Hey, Gabby, I need to talk to you." Troy caught up with her after basketball practice that day. He hadn't been able to find her for the whole afternoon, so he was lucky when he saw her walking alone down the hallway.

"Oh good." She looked over at him briefly. "I need to talk to you too actually. She sounded a little stressed out. "But I can't right now because I was supposed to meet Taylor right after school for some urgent thing that her and Kelsi have planned, but instead I stayed behind because I have so much work to do." She was speaking. "So anyways, now I have to go or they're going to kill me."

"Well what does she want so bad? Troy was slightly curious.

"I don't know, they said they couldn't tell me." She shrugged.

"Sounds interesting…" Troy noted.

Gabriella gave a little laugh. "Yeah." She said. "How about tomorrow then?" she asked.

"Sure." He agreed.

"Alright, well….I'll see you then." She was still slightly flustered. "Have fun at the party." She smiled before turning the corner and leaving him behind.

Okay, so she was a little later then she had planned, but she was still going to Taylor's. She just had to make it to her car without dropping anything that was stacked in her arms. Luckily Taylor lived close to the school, so she got there in no time.

"Where have you been girl?" Taylor asked her at the door, instead of saying hello.

"Sorry I had so much work to get done, but I'm here now." Gabby stepped into the house. "So what is this thing you're planning?" she asked. She wanted to know now.

"You'll know when we get there." Taylor smiled.

"Now, come get changed." Kelsi told her.

"Get changed?" Gabriella asked.

"No questions. Taylor warned her. "Just believe us, tonight is going to be fun."

"Okay, okay." Gabby sighed, letting the two of them drag her upstairs. She had the feeling that maybe she should have just agreed to go to that party that Troy and Chad had told her about.

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Gabriella began to laugh when she stopped her car hours later. The three girls had gotten dressed and re done their hair and makeup. Then they had gone out to Gabriella's car, and Taylor had begun to give her directions to where they were headed. Gabriella still had no idea what was going on, until Taylor told her to stop in front of a house where a party was clearly taking place.

"What's so funny?" Taylor asked. This wasn't the reaction her or Kelsi had expected.

Gabby stopped laughing and looked at them. "Is this um…Jason or something like that's house?" she asked, to make sure. They both nodded. "Yeah today Chad and Troy invited me to this party." She told them.

"Why is that funny?" Kelsi asked.

Gabriella shrugged. "Just because I totally turned them down." She laughed again. "And I just imagined the looks on their faces when we walk in there."

Taylor thought about that for a moment before a satisfied smile came to her face. "Oh, this is going to be so good."

"Let's go." Gabby laughed.

Inside, Gabriella began to have second thoughts about this party. She hadn't expected it to be that great, mostly because she had been to a lot of parties. It took a lot to make them highly memorable now. But now that she was there, this party was beginning to look a whole lot better.

"Hey you're that new girl!" a guy she recognized but didn't know his name greeted her at the door.

"That's Jason." Taylor leaned forward and whispered in Gabriella's ear.

Gabby nodded. "Yeah, nice party." She told Jason, who was definitely a little drunk already.

"You know it." He laughed. "Looking fine girls." He told the three of them before being pulled away.

"Let's check this thing out." Gabriella told her two friends. They worked their way through the party, sopping every once and a while to talk to people. It seemed as if Gabriella was meeting everyone tonight. They all seemed to know her as the new girl.

"Let's find the bathroom, I have to go." Kelsi told them after a while.

On their way through, Gabby was suddenly stopped when she felt someone's hands on her shoulders. "Gotcha'" they told her from behind.

She turned around. "Are you two ever without each other?" she asked Troy and Chad, who were standing there smiling.

"I thought you weren't coming." Troy said, not answering her question.

Gabby just shrugged. "Surprise." She smiled.

"Hey Troy I don't think Gabriella has been properly introduced to everyone." Chad pointed out.

"No, she hasn't." Troy agreed. "Come on Gabby."

"I'll catch up with you guys." Kelsi told them when the bathroom freed up. She rushed in before they could reply.

"So how is my favorite miss McKessie tonight?" Chad put an arm around Taylor's shoulders.

"Well I was doing great but now my back hurts because some stupid basketball guy put his heavy arm around me." She smirked in reply, before walking away into the crowd.

Chad gave a little laugh. "She wants me." He joked before following her away.

Gabriella laughed. "I thought those two hated each other?" she asked Troy.

"Yeah, I gave up trying to figure them out." He shrugged. "They hate each other most of the time, but occasionally they have their moments.

"I guess they're just in denial." Gabby figured it out. _Just like us_, she thought after. What? No way had she just thought that.

"Anyways, come on." Troy said, and put a hand on her back, leading her through to what seemed to be the most crowded area. There she met a bunch more basketball guys, and a few from other sports teams, that Troy was good friends with. So far, the two she liked were Jason, who had made his way back here again and gave her a big bear hug when he was introduced to her, and another named Zeke, who seemed like an all around sweetie.

No matter how hard she had laughed in the past about Troy's godlike status with everyone, now she had to admit it was pretty cool. She especially liked how people completely cleared off the couches when they went to sit down.

A while later she had no regrets about coming to the party. So far they had all been having a great time. She had danced for a long time, with various people, and was now crammed between Zeke and Troy on one of the couches, laughing at some random story Jason was telling. She knew Rachel and the rest of the cheerleaders were around, because she had gotten quite the look from Rachel a while ago, and a few of the other girls had jock boyfriends, of course.

But despite the amount of fun she was having, and the new friends she was making, Gabriella couldn't help but wonder what her friends back in California were up to. She realized she hadn't called them in a while and figured maybe she should see what was up.

"I'll be back, I need some air." She excused herself, getting up from the couch with a bit of difficulty since there were a bunch of them on there. She made her way quickly to the front door, ignoring people trying to talk to her.

Gabriella stepped outside, where no one was, and took a deep breath of fresh air. She stood there for a moment before pulling out her cell phone. She dialed Amber's number, the first on her list in her phone, knowing that since it was a Friday the whole group of them would probably be together.

"Oh my god Gabby!" Amber answered excitedly, having seen her name on the display. "Guys its Gabby." She announced to people that Gabby could hear in the background.

"Hey." Gabriella told her. "What's up?" she could hear a lot of noise through the speaker.

"We're just at this party at Dana Seymour's." Amber told her.

"Dana's?" Gabby asked. She remembered that girl. In the past they hadn't exactly been friends with her. What was going on now?

"Well yeah, only because her friend Kristy Paulson invited us, so we figured why not?" she giggled, and Gabriella knew that she had probably had something to drink already. "Oh hold on, Andy is like attacking me for the phone, bye Gabs!" Amber said before she could even say anything to that.

"Gabriella Marie Montez, how are you?" Andy's perky voice came through the speaker. "Are you okay?" she asked.

"Yeah, I just wanted to call, I realized I haven't really at all." Gabby told her.

"Aw well we miss you! Seriously, you should so be here right now." Andy laughed. "But what are you up to, something great I bet." She asked.

"Well I'm actually…" Gabby started.

"Hold on one second." Andy interrupted her. Gabriella heard a bunch of noise and then Andy's voice again. "Go away I'm busy right now." she told someone. They obviously asked who she was talking to, because she replied. "Gabs, she just called." Gabby laughed when she heard who ever it was replied happily. "Sorry, Seth says hi by the way." Andy laughed when she came back.

"Is now a bad time?" Gabriella asked. They were clearly in the middle of a good party.

"No, sorry it's just kind of crazy around here." Andy informed her.

"Oh, okay." Gabriella sat down by herself on the front steps. "Is Logan nearby at all?" she asked. She hadn't been able to talk to him, since every time she called he had somehow had something to do.

"Actually…" Andy sounded a bit unsure. "I don't see him around. He might be outside." She said.

Gabriella knew her too well to know that what her best friend was telling her wasn't the truth. "If there's something going on, just tell me." She said, wondering what it could possibly be.

"Well…" Andy sighed. "None of us are really sure but I think he might be going out with Kristy, that's why she invited us to Dana's party." She spilt out.

"What?" Gabriella heard herself asking in shock.

"I probably shouldn't have told you that." Andy said apologetically a moment later.

"No it's okay." Gabby sighed, though she felt her eyes begin to fill with tears. Which she told herself not to let out immediately. "We broke up, right? Why should I care?" she said, knowing that Andy would come up with something totally comforting to say.

"Yeah I guess…" Andy told her. "Sorry Gabs, I have to go, Amber wants her phone back. "I'll talk to you later okay?"

Gabriella was silent for a moment. Was the party to loud for Andy to hear properly or something? She had just avoided being a good best friend. "Okay." She answered anyways, letting her go, even though she now had tears streaming down her face. Were her friends forgetting about her?

"Hey sweetie you know I'd love to talk to you more but it's kind of distracting here." Amber's voice came back through the speaker.

"No it's okay, I should probably get back to what I'm doing anyways." Gabriella told her.

"Everyone says hey!" Amber told her.

"Okay, bye." Gabby said quietly, before hanging up and putting her phone away. She felt stupid, sitting there crying because her friends were having fun without her, while there was so much fun going on inside. Now she regretted calling them at all. Suddenly the front door opened and closed behind her, but she stayed right where she was sitting, wiping her eyes and wishing that whoever it was would just go away.

"How come I always have to catch you crying?" she heard a voice from behind her. She knew who it was before she turned her head to look.

"Well I definitely don't try to make it happen." she shrugged, and wiped her face dry.

Troy sat down beside her on the front step. "You okay?" he asked to make sure.

Gabriella nodded. "Yeah." She sighed. "It just hits me when I talk to my friends that I don't see them everyday like I used to." She told him. "They still have lives, and I guess I'm just not really in them anymore."

Troy looked at her and couldn't help but remember how things had been when the Montez family had packed up and left years ago. "Yeah I think I get it." He told her, remembering the hours he had spent sitting in his room, wondering what to do with him self. Then Chad had moved in down the street and they had become instant friends, bonding over basketball right away.

Gabriella really didn't feel like staying on this subject. "So…" she started.

"Things have been awkward haven't they?" Troy got out what they were both thinking.

"Yeah, I think…" Gabriella was trying to figure out how to start things. "Something happened in the park that night, with the swings, didn't it?" she asked.

Troy nodded to assure her. He bit his lip, working up the nerves to say what came next. "Okay look, the thing is….ever since I saw you on your first day at school and had no idea who you were, I think there's been something there." He sighed, and watched as she nodded along with that. "But I have to admit I've been going kind of crazy because we're like…" he trailed off.

"Siblings?" Gabriella offered. He nodded. "Yeah I feel the same way." She told him. They fell into an odd silence, both thinking the exact same thing but too afraid to say it.

"Would it be weird if we…" Troy trailed off again.

Suddenly Gabriella looked him straight in the eyes. "There's only one way to find out." She said quietly. Troy completely understood what she meant.

Slowly and slightly awkwardly they leaned in. When their lips met, everything that was uncomfortable seemed to melt away. His hand was on the back of her neck, making her spine tingle and she rested a hand on his arm. It went a little longer then either of them had expected.

When they pulled apart Gabriella looked at him. "Not weird." She whispered, a smile coming to her face.

"No kidding." Troy agreed.

Gabriella gave a little laugh. This was an odd moment. They were sitting outside on the front steps, in the cool air. They were silent, though it was anything but silent with the music pounding from inside. Suddenly Gabriella's favorite song came on and she got up, holding out her hand to him. "Come on." She told him, and smiled again when he grabbed her hand and stood up. "I love this song."

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**There you go. I'll have more up soon. Sooner then last time! Sorry again for the wait.**


	9. Beautiful Day

**Thanks for the amazing reviews so far.**

**Sorry this took a little longer then I hoped (again)**

**I've been pretty busy lately. But updates should start being more normal soon.**

**Chapter 9: Beautiful Day**

After Jason's party on the Friday, the weekend had gone by amazingly fast. Gabriella only realized on Monday morning when she was walking through the doors of East High, that she hadn't spoken to any of her friends over the past two days. That included the ones back in California, the ones she had made in Albuquerque so far, and of course, Troy.

She figured she would find Taylor and Kelsi first, so headed in that direction, but was surprised when Zeke and Jason came out of no where. "Hey Gabriella." Zeke greeted, as they both fell into step with her.

"Hey guys." She smiled. She was about to ask them what was going on, but Jason clearly had something he wanted to say and went right for it.

"So I just wanted to tell you that if I happened to say or do anything that really wasn't appropriate on Friday, then I'm sorry. I totally did not mean to." Jason told her.

"Don't be afraid to actually tell the truth." Zeke added.

"Well…" she looked at him, he was waiting to hear if there was anything. "You gave me this huge hug when you met me, it was kind of…unexpected." She told him.

"Now you're really wishing that I wasn't walking with you?" he asked curiously. Zeke laughed at that.

Gabriella laughed and shook her head. "No." she assured him. "I'm a fan of hugs." She told him.

"Perfect." Jason laughed.

"In fact, a hug is part of the reason that a good portion of the girls in this school hate me." She shrugged.

"Oh yeah, I remember that." Jason nodded.

"I have to say, you sure came with a grand entrance." Zeke told her.

Gabby laughed. "I didn't realize what I was getting into."

Zeke suddenly looked over at her curiously. "So what's the deal with you and Troy anyways?" he asked. Jason was interested too.

Once upon a time, Gabriella had been able to answer that easily. Now things were a little different. "Uh, nothing." She realized that she should probably figure out what was going on with her and Troy before she confused anyone. "We've known each other since we were kids." She shrugged. That was probably the best answer. She looked at the two guys, who were exchanging a weird look.

"I see." Jason nodded. "Anyways, we should get to home room Zeke." He told his friend. "We have Darbus." He added to Gabriella, who immediately understood. "And we're not exactly on her good side."

"Trying to make a good impression again?" Gabby raised an eyebrow. She had heard about Ms. Darbus. She was strict, and definitely picked favorites.

"Yeah I guess." Jason laughed.

"Bye Gabriella." Zeke waved before turning in the opposite direction with Jason.

Gabriella set off for her own homeroom class by herself. Kelsi was the only person in her class that she was friends with. Unless she counted the jocks she had met on Friday night at Jason's party. There were a few that were in her homeroom. She knew she had to get there fast, so that she wouldn't be late.

She quickly passed by the huge poster with the Wildcats jumping across it. The bright blue eyes of a certain someone pierced into her even though they weren't real. It made her wonder what was going to happen when her and Troy saw each other today. When she turned the corner she heard a locker slam, and looked up to see Troy turning away from it, swinging his bag over his shoulder.

A second later he was coming straight towards her. This was happening sooner then she had hoped. Even so, she stopped in the middle of the hallway and waited for him to reach her. "Hey." She said with a smile, hoping this wouldn't be awkward.

"Hey." Troy smiled back. They both stood there for a moment before he continued. "So, um…" he tried to think of what to say. How was it possible that Troy Bolton was nervous with a girl? Oh yeah, that was right. Gabriella wasn't just any girl.

He was about to continue until the thumping of a bunch of books hitting the floor filled the almost silent hall. Both him and Gabriella turned and saw a blonde guy sigh, before bending over to pick up what looked like two times the amount of books that he should have had.

On instinct, they both rushed over to help. Picking up all the books took an instant with three people. When they stood up, Gabriella was happy that she could recognize who the guy was. "Hey, you're Ryan Evans." She said. She couldn't help but hide the slight amount of amazement in her voice. She had never yet seen Ryan without his sister Sharpay.

"Uh…yeah." Ryan replied, gripping his stack of books. "You're the new girl…sorry I'm no good with names."

"Gabriella." She informed him.

A small smile came to Ryan's face. "Well, nice to meet you." He said. "I'd shake your hand or something but my hands are kind of full." He joked.

"Yeah, what's with all of the books anyways?" Troy asked him.

Ryan shrugged. "Half of them are Sharpay's." He informed them.

"Are you heading to homeroom?" Troy asked.

"Of course, Darbus would kill me if I skipped." Ryan joked lightly.

Troy gave a little laugh. "Well, here, let me help you with some of those then." He said, shocking both of the people standing with him.

"What?" Ryan asked, as if Troy was asking him to be his best friend. "Are you serious?" why was someone like Troy Bolton suddenly talking to him, Ryan Evans, shadow of Sharpay?

"Yeah, they look pretty heavy to me." Troy shrugged.

"Well, sure then." Ryan let Troy take about half of the books he was carrying. "Thanks." He felt himself smile.

"No problem." Troy said.

Gabriella smiled. This was a side of Troy she hadn't seen since she had gotten to East High. The fact that Ryan seemed so shocked by the gesture made her realize that it was a side of Troy that Troy himself probably hadn't seen in a while. "That's really sweet of you Troy." She smiled, hugging her own books to her chest. "I'll see you later." She added, before turning and going back to making her way to class.

Both of them watched her leave, and when she had completely disappeared, Ryan looked at Troy, who seemed to be frozen, with a small smile on his face. "So you like her huh?" Ryan asked. He knew exactly why Troy had that look on his face, and couldn't stop himself from asking.

Troy snapped out of it, but figured he couldn't hide it, since Ryan obviously knew. "Yeah, totally." He sighed.

"Well I'm no girl expert or anything….but she definitely likes you." Ryan told him.

They started to walk towards their classroom. Luckily the bell hadn't rung yet. "Yeah I know." Troy replied, not really wanting to get into the details of his love life with someone like Ryan Evans. He wasn't even sure why he had told him this much.

"So what's going on then?" Ryan didn't seem to understand why the two of them weren't together.

Troy sighed again. "I have no idea." He shrugged.

Just then the bell rang throughout the halls of East high, and the two boys took off towards where they were supposed to be, hoping they would get there before Darbus did.

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Troy walked into the lunch room that day, completely starving and wanting to do nothing else but eat his lunch. He had just spent the entire free period working out, like his dad "suggested".

He sat down in his usual spot at the same table that him and the basketball team took over every day. He took out his lunch, and took a bite before he noticed that some of the guys were staring at him. "What?" he asked with his mouth full. He got a weird feeling from the way they were looking at him.

"Where's Gabriella?" Zeke was the first to speak.

"Uh…I don't know." Troy swallowed. "Why?" he wondered.

Jason spoke up next. "We figured you might bring her over today." He said.

Now that he though about it, Troy had figured that since his friends seemed to like Gabby so much, she would sit with them. But then again, she had become friends with Taylor and Kelsi first, and would probably prefer to sit with them.

He looked over to the table where they usually sat, expecting to see the three girls talking or laughing about something. He was surprised to see that Gabriella wasn't there. Taylor seemed to be helping some guy with chemistry homework, and Kelsi was busy writing something.

He found himself wondering where Gabriella was, and realized that they still hadn't been able to talk, since they had been interrupted this morning. Suddenly he pushed himself up from the table, not explaining what he was doing to any of his friends. He walked over to where the girls were sitting and stood between them, clearing his throat to get their attention. They both turned and eyed him curiously.

"What do you want Bolton?" Taylor asked, slightly annoyed.

Troy wasn't surprised by her tone. He had heard it enough to know it was just Taylor. "Do you know where Gabriella is?" he asked.

"No idea." Taylor shrugged.

"She disappeared during free period." Kelsi explained a little further. "We figured she'd be at lunch." She shrugged.

"Okay, thanks." Troy turned and walked away, not seeing the girls share a glance, before smirking to them selves.

Troy decided that he wanted to go and find her. He had gone from wondering, to needing to know where she was. Plus, they did need to talk. Not knowing what was going on was beginning to bug him.

As soon as he got out of the cafeteria he decided he was going to try and make this quick. The school really wasn't that big was it? He started walking down the halls, heading in the direction of the library. He would glance through each door as he passed, just to make sure. Unfortunately, being quick wasn't an option, since he managed to run into Rachel and a few of her friends, who immediately tried to get him to stop. As soon as he got away from them, he ran into Sharpay, who seemed to insist on talking to him about something that he completely ignored. Finally, he managed to dodge his dad before getting to the library.

But she wasn't there. Which confused him lot. Where else could she possibly be? He figured that maybe she was just out in the hall, or could have been a little late to lunch and gotten there a few minutes after he left.

Suddenly it came to him. If he couldn't find her inside the school , then it was probably because she wasn't in it. It hadn't occurred to him that maybe she was just sitting outside. So instead of going back to the cafeteria, Troy decided to head out there.

Outside, the weather was beautiful. Luckily, he found Gabriella sitting outside on a bench. She had a few books beside her and one on her lap, and obviously couldn't hear him approaching because she had headphones in her ears. So he snuck up on her from behind and leaned over the back of the bench. Then he reached forward and pulled out one of her headphones. "Hey." He said at the same time.

Gabriella jumped a bit. She quickly whirled her head around to see who it was. "Oh, Troy...god you scared me." She sighed.

"I see that." He laughed and walked around to sit down beside her on the bench. "So are you too cool for the cafeteria or something?" he asked with a smirk.

"What?" Gabriella asked. When Troy didn't answer, she grabbed his wrist and looked at his watch. She was surprised to see that they were already into lunch. "Wow I must have missed the bell." She laughed lightly.

"I guess so." Troy said.

Gabby shrugged and leaned back, her hair spilling over the top of the bench. It looked as if each strand was reflecting the sunlight. "It's a beautiful day, I felt like studying out here for a change." She explained.

Troy nodded. "Good to know you weren't avoiding me." He told her.

Gabriella looked at him and smiled. "Now why would I ever want to do that?" she asked him, raising one of her eyebrows.

He shrugged. "I don't know, because of recent events maybe?" he went along with her and didn't mention what they were both thinking.

Gabriella was silent for a moment. "I have no idea how to respond to that." She laughed. Then she looked at him again, biting her lip, and seeming to try and decide something. "Okay really, there's been something I haven't been able to get out of my mind since Friday night." She told him.

"Really…" Troy wanted her to go on. He was playing dumb "And that would be?"

Gabriella smiled and moved in closer. "Mind if I show you instead of telling you?" she smirked, hoping that Troy knew what she meant.

Sure enough, he did. "Sure." He gave a little laugh, which ended when she leaned in all the way and kissed him.

When Gabriella pulled away she looked slightly troubled. "It's still there." She sighed and leaned back on the bench.

Troy was confused. One moment she was joking and happy, the next she seemed to be unhappy about something. "What do you mean?" he asked.

"That feeling." Gabriella tried to explain herself. "Don't get me wrong, I like it…a lot." She told him. "It's just well…I realized that we really can't do this." She shook her head lightly.

"What?" Troy was shocked to hear her say that. "Why not?"

"It would just be really complicated." She told him. "I mean, our friends pretend to hate each other, I already have a bunch of girls that hate me just for hanging out with you." She listed. "And won't it be weird if we tell our parents?" she asked.

Troy was determined to not let this go. "Well, first of all, if they're our friends, they'll learn to deal with it." He said, Gabriella's face changed to being slightly amused at his boldness. "Secondly, those girls can be as angry as they want, it wont change anything." He shrugged. "And as for our parents…well I don't really know."

To his surprise, Gabriella let out a little laugh. He watched her bite her lip for a moment thoughtfully. Then she quickly turned to face him and took a deep breath. "Okay," she exhaled. "What if…" she seemed to be having difficulty with this. "We just kept this between us for now?" she asked carefully.

"Like a secret?" Troy asked.

Gabriella nodded. "Yeah. Just for now though." She repeated.

He thought about it for a moment. "I guess I'm good with that." He watched her smile. "But when is all of this going to come out?" he asked.

Gabby shrugged. "Do we have to decide that now?" she asked, still smiling.

Troy laughed. "No." he shook his head.

Gabriella moved close again, so that their faces were practically touching. She stayed there and waited, until Troy moved in to kiss her. But she pulled away before he could, and picked up her books and her bag. "I'm starving, and Taylor and Kelsi are probably wondering where I am." She shrugged and gave a little laugh as she walked around the bench.

"Hold on a minute." Troy stopped her before she could get away.

"What?" Gabriella asked curiously.

Troy turned to face her, still sitting on the bench. "I know for a fact that both of our parents are going out tonight to an opening of some new restaurant." He started.

Gabriella smiled. She knew where this was going. "And…" she prompted.

"I could use some company and someone to help me eat the pizza I'll be ordering." He shrugged. "Or Chinese food, Thai, sushi, Greek…whatever." He added to make sure.

Gabriella let out a little laugh. "It's a date." She said before walking away.

"Perfect." Troy said quietly, knowing she hadn't heard. He sat there for a moment before going back inside.

Gabriella had been right, it was a beautiful day.


	10. Just Floating

**The Reviews have been AWESOME.**

**Thanks so much, again guys.**

**Chapter 10: Just Floating**

When Troy got home that day after school, he started freaking out a bit. He had been fine until he got to his room, which was a complete mess. No matter how many times he assured himself that Gabriella had probably seen much worse from him over the years, he couldn't help but feel the need to clean, and he had no idea why.

After a while, his mom walked by with a basket full of clean laundry. She fully passed his room before stopping and retracing her steps. Troy turned down the music he'd been playing when he saw her. "What's up?" he asked.

Mrs. Bolton was about to correct him on his choice of greeting, but figured she'd concentrate on something else instead. "You're cleaning your room?" she asked in disbelief. It was confusing to her, since she always had to force him to clean it in some way or other.

"Uh, yeah." Troy replied. He was slightly pre occupied with picking up dirty clothes and throwing them into the basket in his closet.

"Any particular reason?" his mom asked.

"Gabriella is coming cover tonight." He told her without thinking. "To, you know…hang out." He added, hoping he hadn't given anything away.

With any other girl, his mother wouldn't exactly have been okay with that. "Oh alright." She nodded, still finding it a little odd that he was cleaning his room. She wasn't about to argue though. Instead, she went on with what she had been doing, leaving Troy alone again.

Troy watched her leave. "Oblivious." He muttered, before turning his music up again and going back to cleaning. He picked up a dirty t-shirt he had worn the day before and launched it into his laundry basket, basketball style. It sailed in perfectly. "And that's two points for Troy Bolton."

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Gabriella plopped herself down on the couch in the living room, determined to get the reading she had to finish for English class done. Apparently that wasn't going to happen since her dad came in and sat down on the other end of the couch.

"Hi pumpkin." he said happily, using the nickname he always had, since she was little.

"Hey dad." Gabriella replied in a slightly distracted voice.

Her father let out a little laugh. "Well I know you're busy reading, but I wanted to let you know that your mom and I are going out with the Bolton's tonight, so what do you want to do about dinner?" he asked.

Gabriella put her book down on her lap and looked at him. "Actually I think I'm just going to go over to Troy's, since he's alone too." She told her dad.

"Do you have all of your work done?" he asked in his usual way.

Gabby held up her book. "That's what I'm doing right now." she informed him.

"Oh alright then." Her dad smiled. "I'm happy that you and Troy are friends again." He told Gabby. "It's good to see, even after all of these years."

"Yeah." Gabriella agreed. She didn't trust herself to say anything else, since she and Troy had definitely re-bonded. More then her parents might think.

"I'll let you get back to reading." He got up and left her reading on the couch. Gabriella barely noticed since she had already become absorbed right back in her book.

She finished the three chapters her teacher had set, just in time to rush upstairs and get changed. She knew it was only Troy, but she couldn't help but make sure she looked extra nice. When she was done getting ready she went downstairs, grabbing her purse and keys from where she had left them in the front hall.

"Mom! Dad! I'm going!" she called through the house, figuring they had heard.

Her mom came to the front hall form the kitchen. "Remember, it's a school night, so not too late." She told her daughter.

"Yeah I know mom." Gabriella was used to this.

Her mom smiled. "You look pretty." She noted slightly curiously.

Gabby bit her lip, was she being obvious? She looked down at her new, flowy skirt that ended just above her knees. "Oh well, I went shopping the other day with Taylor…and I haven't worn some things yet." She shrugged.

"Oh, okay." Her mom said. To Gabby's relief, her curious tone was gone.

"See you later." Gabriella told her. She quickly made her way out the front door before any more questions could be asked.

Mrs. Montez shook her head and watched her daughter through the window as she walked out to her shiny red car. About halfway there she stopped and pulled out her cell phone, which she proceeded to open and talk to whoever it was that had called.

"Did Gabby leave?" Mrs. Montez heard her husband ask when he came into the room.

"Yep." She nodded, still watching Gabriella through the window. She had now gotten into her car, but was just sitting in the front seat while she finished her phone conversation. "You know, she was pretty mad when we made her move back here." She told him.

"Yeah I know." Mr. Montez sighed.

"I think she's happy now." She went to sit down beside him, a smile on her face.

"Me too."

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Gabriella was just lifting her hand to knock on the door of the Bolton's house when it swung open. She was slightly shocked to see Troy standing there. "Wow, I didn't even knock." She laughed.

"Well maybe I was sitting by the window, desperately waiting for you to pull into my driveway." Troy joked. Gabriella raised a curious eyebrow and he laughed. "Nah, I just came downstairs and saw your car." He cleared up.

"Good." She stepped in. "So have your parents left yet?" she asked.

"Uh… Troy started.

"Gabriella!" a voice interrupted him. Troy's mom came into the hall. "How are you sweetie?" she asked, hugging her.

"I'm good, how about you?" Gabriella replied politely.

"I'm just fine." Mrs. Bolton smiled. She looked at her son next. "We're leaving so just call if you need anything." She told him, getting a nod in response.

As if on cue, Jack came down the stairs. "Alright, are we ready to go?" he asked.

"Yes, come on we're going to be late." His wife replied. "Bye kids." She told the two teenagers as they went out the front door. It closed with a light slam, leaving the hallway silent.

"Well to answer your question, yes, my parents have left." Troy smirked.

Gabby turned to face him. "I noticed that." She smiled, before leaning in slowly to kiss him. Troy was doing the same. Just when their lips were about to touch, the front door suddenly flew open. They quickly jumped apart, looking to see who it was.

"Forgot the car keys." Troy's dad told them with a little laugh. "Have you seen them anywhere Troy, I can't remember where I put them." He asked.

"Uh…they're right there on the table." Troy told him, pointing over to the small table across from the closet, which held a pretty vase full of flowers on it's surface. He was seriously hoping that his dad hadn't seen anything.

"Thanks." Jack scooped up the car keys happily. "Alright see you later." He said before leaving again.

"That was close." Gabby said after a moment of silence.

Troy sighed. "Tell me about it."

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About an hour later, Troy was busy putting the Chinese food they had ordered onto two plates, which sat on the counter in front of him. Gabriella had tried to help, but he had refused, so now she was sitting at the table, looking out the glass doors, which led to the backyard.

"Hey can we eat out by the pool?" she asked him. "It's really nice out tonight."

Troy finished right at that moment. "Sure." He told her, picking up the plates of food. "Come on."

Gabriella followed him outside and sat right on the edge of the pool. She was happy that she wore a skirt so she could put her feet right in with no worry. The water was nice and warm.

"Here you go." Troy handed her one of the plates of food, before sitting down himself. He rolled up the jeans he was wearing so that he could dip his feet in too.

Gabriella smiled when she felt his foot brush against hers. "This is nice." She told him.

Troy looked over at her. Since the light was on in the pool, the moving water was causing squiggles of light to dance all over her. "Yeah." He replied. "It is."

They ate in a comfortable silence for a while, until Troy noticed that Gabriella had put down her food and was looking at him, a small smile on her face. "What?" he asked after swallowing.

Gabriella shook her head, and looked down at her lap. "I still find this completely crazy." She told him. "I mean, remember when we were little, and all we could do was imagine how things would be when we were older?" she asked.

"Yeah." Troy nodded. He was amazed at the things she came up with.

"Well, here we are. Gabriella shrugged. She swirled her feet around in the water a bit.

Troy nodded again. "Funny, we never imagined this, did we?" he said.

"Nope." Gabby smiled. They were both silent for a while again before she spoke up. "So what has Troy Bolton done for the past seven years?" she was suddenly curious. All she knew was what she had learned from other people, and that hadn't been much. Plus, every time they had hung out there had been other distractions. "Because as much as you're the same guy, you've definitely changed."

"I'd like to ask you the same thing." Troy looked over at her.

Gabriella laughed. "Okay, how about a little game then?" she raised an eyebrow.

"What kind of game?" He asked curiously.

She shifted so that she was leaning back slightly, her hands resting behind her on the pavement. "Well I guess it's not really a game." She shrugged. "We take turns." She told him. "I ask a question, you ask a question." She explained. "One at a time. No more, no less."

"Okay." He replied, slightly unsure. "Go ahead." He told her, leaning back as well.

"When did basketball become your life?" Gabriella asked.

"Basketball is not my life." Troy argued.

She smirked. "Just answer the question." She told him.

"Fine." He sighed. "You know my dad." He shrugged. "He loves it. Him teaching me and coaching me is how I got into it." He told her.

"But do you really love it?" Gabriella asked curiously.

Troy looked at her. "I thought it was one question at a time?" he asked.

"Okay then ask away." Gabriella laughed.

He thought about it for a minute. "Why didn't you want to move back?" he finally asked.

Gabriella bit her lip. "Well, I guess I just hated the thought of leaving my friends." She said. "I just loved it out there, and I forgot what it was like here." She added. "But now, I guess it's not too bad." She looked over and saw Troy nod in response. "So do you really love basketball?" she tried again, knowing it was her turn.

Troy tilted his head back and looked at the dark sky, taking a deep sigh. "You know, sometimes I think the only reason I play is because I'm good." He told her. "Everyone's always telling me that, anyways." He added. "My dad mostly." He paused briefly, noticing that Gabriella was watching him carefully. "But then other times, it's like the one thing I love." He went on. "The best thing in the world," He explained. "Like an escape or outlet or something."

"I see." Gabby nodded, secretly wondering what Troy might need to escape from. "Your turn." She said. Just then, her phone rang loudly, and she winced. "One second." She pulled it out of her pocket and checked the caller ID. "Oh I have to take this." She told Troy apologetically, before lifting the phone to he ear. She didn't bother leaving. "Hey."

"Gabby I did it!" she heard an excited voice come through the speaker. "I told Andy everything!"

"Seth that's great" she said happily, knowing exactly what he was talking about.

"I know." Seth sounded great. "And you know what, I don't know what's going to happen now, because Andy said she was going to think about it." He told her. But you know what, I'm not even scared of her saying no, or rejecting me, or whatever. I'm just glad I got all of those feelings out." He rambled on.

Gabriella let out a little laugh. "See I told you it would work out." She told him.

"Yeah, you were right." He told her. "But enough about me, how are you?" he asked.

"I'm, um…" Gabby started, looking up at Troy sitting close to her. She knew if she said anything to Seth, the rest of her old friends would know is less then a half hour. "Kind of in the middle of something actually. Do you mind if I call you back?" she asked.

"Definitely not." Seth told her.

"I'm proud of you Seth." Gabby added with a little giggle.

"Good, you better be." he laughed back.

"Bye. She said before hanging up. She looked over at Troy, who had a curious expression on his face. "I told you about how my friend Seth is like, completely in love with my other friend Andy right?" she asked him, wanting to explain.

"Yeah." Troy nodded.

Gabriella smiled. "Well, before I left I told him to just go for it and tell her, and he finally did." She sighed happily. "Once they work things out they're going to be the greatest couple." She added.

"That's good." Troy was glad that she was so excited about this.

"But anyways, it's your turn." She didn't want to ramble on too much about Andy and Seth.

Troy decided to take a little risk. "Well, you told me about most of your friends, but I sensed that there was a little something you left out about Logan." He told her.

Gabriella had been afraid he might bring up something like Logan. "What exactly is your question?" she asked. She wasn't about to spill every little detail without knowing what Troy wanted to hear.

Troy shrugged. "What's the deal with you guys?" he asked simply.

Gabriella leaned forward again, playing with the fabric of her skirt between her fingers. "We went out, off and on." She said truthfully. She suddenly smiled. "Logan is a really great guy…smart, funny, polite." She sighed, memories filling up her head. "He was sort of the glue of the group I guess. He held us all together." She finished.

"Sounds like a tough guy to beat." Troy replied after a moment.

Gabriella looked at him. She knew she had probably freaked him out a little there, but it was better to just be honest right? "Hey, you're here." She reminded him. "And you're you." She added with a smile.

"Whatever that means." Troy said.

"It's good, believe me." Gabriella smiled at him.

"Okay." Troy smiled back. "So go ahead. It's your turn." He gestured to her.

Gabriella shook her head. "I don't know, I think I'm good." She told him, to his surprise. I could ask you about girls but that might take a while." She smirked.

Troy laughed. "Oh!" he said. "I don't even know how to respond to that." He told her, watching her laugh too.

"Well, anything interesting there?" Gabby raised an eyebrow curiously.

Troy shook his head. "Nothing serious anyways." He told her.

"Hm." She nodded. "You just like having the girls all over you don't you?" she teased, knowing that is how it was at East High.

Troy laughed again. "Maybe…" he smirked, before turning more serious. "But I guess I've just never found the right girl."

"I see." Gabriella nodded. Then, without saying another word, she stood up, picking up both of their plates and taking them over to the table.

"You know, I could have done that." Troy called over.

She turned around to face him again, and saw that he had stood up too. The light from the pool was shining up from behind him. It gave her an idea. "No, I have the perfect place for you." She told him, walking towards him.

"Oh really?" Troy asked, just as she stopped right in front of him and gave him a soft, quick kiss. "Where is that?" He smiled. Gabriella didn't respond, but proceeded to push her hands into his chest, sending him backwards, closer to the edge of the pool. She laughed and he instantly understood what she was trying to do. "Oh no, you're coming in with me." He told her.

Gabriella laughed some more, and shrieked when she felt his arms grip her tightly around the waist. A spilt second later they were both falling into the pool behind him.

When she came to the surface, Gabriella was still laughing. She saw Troy come up, not too far away from where she was. "Troy!" she splashed him. "You realize these are my only clothes." She told him, moving towards the shallow end so that she could stand on the bottom. There, the water reached up to just above her belly button.

Troy came towards her laughing. "You must have known this was coming when you tried to push me in by myself." He told her.

Gabriella couldn't argue that. She watched him move his dripping hair out of his face, before pushing herself through the water towards him. Their bodies collided and she wrapped her arms around Troy's neck, looking right up at him.

"Hey." Troy smiled at her.

"Hi." Gabby whispered back, standing up on her tiptoes to kiss him. When she pulled away after a while she smiled. "Its actually not to bad in here." She said.

"Yeah." Troy agreed, nodding his head. Gabriella suddenly pulled away from him and swung her feet up from under her, laying herself on the surface of the water. "What are you doing?" he asked softly.

She closed her eyes. "Just floating." She told him.

Troy didn't even have a response for that. He watched her lie there peacefully for a minute, looking like she was glowing from the pool light. It was as if for just this moment, she was forgetting every other thing in the world.

He liked that.

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That night, Gabriella lay in bed, staring up at the ceiling, completely unable to sleep. She was too busy thinking about everything that happened that night. Half of her hated how completely unexpected this was. She had never really liked surprises, since in her experience all surprises had ended up badly. Like, for example, moving away. Twice. But the other half of her couldn't wait to see what would happen next. For the first time in a long time, Gabriella was craving an adventure.

Suddenly remembering something, Gabriella turned on her bedside lamp, quietly moving over to her closet, which she opened carefully. She reached up to the top shelf and pulled down one of the boxes. It was filled with things she had put away. She hadn't wanted to throw them out, but didn't necessarily want them out all of the time.

Gabby carefully balanced the box on her knee and pulled the lid off. She was happy to see that the thing she wanted was right on top. She picked it up and put the box away, before going back to her bed.

She turned over the picture frame she was holding, a smile instantly coming to her face. It wasn't a big picture frame, but was able to hold two photos. The two it was currently displaying were ones that she hadn't seen in a long time.

On the right, there was a cute picture of her and Troy at one of their parent's friend's weddings. They were six or seven years old, and stood hugging each other, but smiling at the camera at the same time. Troy was wearing a cute little tux, and Gabriella had on what she remembered to be her special yellow party dress. She also remembered that for the entire day, their parents had joked about how the two kids were each other's dates.

On the left side of the frame, there was a picture that had been taken a few days after the wedding. She and Troy had been sharing a pack of sour candies, and their mom's had found the looks on their faces when the taste hit them absolutely priceless. In the picture the two kids were posing, but unable to smile properly since they had just popped candies into their mouths.

Gabriella let out a little laugh at that memory. Instead of putting the frame back into the box, she placed it carefully on the table beside her bed. It was right next to the picture she had taken of her and her friends from California. The two settings simply didn't make sense together. They were like two completely different worlds.

She wondered if it would always be that way, and her two worlds would constantly be moving at completely different paces. She knew that she couldn't have both of them, though she wished more than anything that she could.

But for now, Gabriella decided not to worry about it, because for the first time since she had moved back to Albuquerque, she was completely happy.

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**Hope you liked it, tell me what you think!**

**I'll get more up soon.**


	11. Secrets And Lies

**Okay so I thought I would post this up, just for a little fun, and to formally introduce Gabriella's friend's into the story.**

**They wont immediately be a big part of the story for a while, but their descriptions might help to show the changes Gabby will be struggling with.**

**I've added links of pictures of how they look, in my profile so you can picture them.**

**Enjoy.**

**Andrea "Andy" Smith** – _Blake Lively_

Andy is Gabriella's best friend. The two met on Gabriella's first day of school in California and were inseparable ever since. She is a big supporter of Gabriella and Logan's relationship, since she is the one who introduced them to each other. Andy is a crazy girl who just wants to have fun all the time. Luckily she's had Gabriella to keep her out of trouble in the past. But when Gabriella suddenly moves, Andy finds that there are a bunch of changes in her life, as well as in Gabby's. She doesn't like them at all, and will find herself wanting things to go back to the way they were, even if that's impossible.

**Logan Cooper** – _Taylor Handley_

Logan is Gabriella's ex boyfriend. They have a slightly rough, on again off again relationship. But no matter their status, the two have always had a great connection. He was the new kid before she came, and helped her survive her first little while in her new home. Along with that, Logan wins everyone over with his slightly mysterious personality. As soon as anyone talks to him or gets to know him, they realize he's a sweetie. Gabriella would describe him as "the glue" of the group, keeping them all together, in order, and out of trouble. The thing is, he's always "belonged" to Gabriella, which he never thinks is a problem until she has gone away.

**Riley Stevens** – _Taylor Cole_

Riley is known as the sporty twin, or the surfer chick. Whether it's soccer, surfing or just hanging out, she is always up to something. She is the complete opposite of her twin sister, but still hangs out with her every single day. She couldn't imagine being apart from her. Riley's athleticism makes her just as popular as her sister in school. She hangs out with a lot of guys since she's often at the beach or trying to squeeze in extra practices after school. She's okay with that though. The only trouble is that she's constantly trying to filter out the good guys from the bad ones for her sister, which can become quite the annoying job.

**Amber Stevens** _– Willa Holland_

Amber is the artsy twin, and social butterfly. She's simply adored in school. Everyone wants to be her friend, or date her, but she sticks with her sister and their little group. She doesn't let her popularity get to her head. That is the way it's always been. Amber is always busy, with everything she does. Unlike her twin sister, she is unable to choose just one thing she loves to do, simply because she loves it all. Along with that, Amber is always going out with her sister's jock boy friends. They have become her 'type', though she has never dated one long enough for it to count.

**Seth Marshall** _– Chris Pratt_

Seth is the goofy, fun-loving guy who is often overlooked. Him and Gabriella really bonded when he met her through his best friend, Logan. Him and Logan couldn't be more different, but that just makes their friendship stronger. Unlike Logan, Seth isn't sought after by bunches of girls when he becomes single. That doesn't necessarily bother him though, since the only girl he really wants is Andy. Unfortunately she only sees him as a good friend. Gabriella is the only one who ever understands his problem. She encourages him to take a risk and tell Andy how he really feels.

**Chapter 11: Secrets and Lies**

"Oh my god Gabby, you'll never guess what happened!" Gabriella listened to Andy's excited voice through her phone. "I've been trying to reach you forever." She added.

The girls definitely had missed each other's calls over the past few days. Gabriella had found missed calls several times, wondering how it was possible that she hadn't heard her phone. And the few times she had tried to call Andy, she had ended up hanging up after a few rings. She just didn't have the guts to tell her friend that she had a new guy in her life.

"What is it Andy?" Gabriella asked, already knowing what it was. But she was still curious, it had been a few days since Seth had called to tell her the news, and she hadn't heard anything else on the subject.

"You'll never believe it." Andy told her. "Seth came to my house the other night and told me that he's been in love with me, like forever." She said more seriously. "Isn't that crazy? I can't believe I was so oblivious all this time."

"Aw that's sweet." Gabriella told her.

There was a silence. "You knew, didn't you?" Andy asked after a moment. She could tell, even through the phone.

"Maybe…" Gabriella's voice was unsure.

"How come you never told me!" her friend exclaimed.

Gabriella let out a little laugh. "I wanted Seth to do something about it on his own." She smiled. "He finally worked up to it."

"So you mean he was nervous and stuff?" Andy asked.

Gabriella sat down on her bed, leaning back into the pillows. "Yeah, he didn't want to be rejected." She told her.

Andy seemed to take that in for a moment. "What should I do Gabby?" she asked, sounding slightly upset. "I mean, this is so surprising to me. Seth has always been such a good friend." She added.

Gabriella thought briefly of everything that had been going on between her and Troy. "Give him a chance." She told Andy. "It might surprise you how well you fit with each other." She advised. She smiled, remembering Jason's party the weekend before, and her and Troy's experimental kiss. Things had definitely changed over the past week.

"Okay." Andy agreed. "So how are you doing?" she asked. "I bet you have like a flock of those Albuquerque boys following you around, trying to catch your attention." She let out a little laugh.

"Not a flock, but the ones I have met have been really nice." Gabriella told her.

Andy was immediately interested. "Any love interests missy?" she asked curiously.

Gabriella bit her lip. "Nope." She lied.

"What about that guy?" Andy asked. "The one you were friends with when you were little or something?" she recalled hearing about him and how he had changed over the past years from a scrawny eleven year old to a gorgeous basketball player. She had yet to see the guy.

"Oh Troy?" Gabriella asked. "No, we're just friends." She reminded her. After her first day at East High, Gabriella had called Andy to fill her in. She remembered being completely excited upon seeing her old childhood friend again. That was how Andy had found out about Troy.

"Alright." Andy laughed. "Well I have to go." She told her.

"Okay, just remember something fore me." Gabriella said.

"What's that?" Andy asked.

"Give Seth a chance." Gabby told her.

"Definitely." Andy said happily. "Bye Gabs."

With that, Andy hung up. Gabriella put down her phone a moment later, taking a deep sigh. She hadn't meant to lie. She really hadn't, but it had just seemed easier then telling the full truth about how she had a new boyfriend.

But when she really thought about it, she had no reason to be afraid of telling her old friends. After all, Logan had moved on first, hadn't he? With Kristy Paulson, of all people. It wasn't like she was doing something wrong. Nothing lasts forever. Wouldn't Logan and the rest of her friends want her to be happy instead of miserable and missing them?

That same question rolled through her mind over and over again, annoying her to death. If she wasn't doing anything wrong, then why did she feel guilty? She let her worries take control until she finally pushed herself off her bed and went to shower.

Maybe she could wash away some of that unexplainable guilt.

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The next day Gabriella was sitting in the library, busy copying some notes Taylor had given her that morning. Her notebook was open in front of her, and the pen she was holding was moving quickly across the page. She was deep in concentration until she felt someone lean on the back of her chair.

"Dear diary, I just can't stop thinking about Troy Bolton..." a familiar voice said.

Gabriella continued to write, though a smile came to her face. "You wish." She laughed, watching out of the corner of her eye as Troy swung into the seat beside her. "And you really need to stop sneaking up on me like that." She added.

"Just like you need to become easier to find." He replied with a smirk.

Gabby stopped her pen and looked at him. "Maybe I like making you chase me all over the place." She shrugged innocently.

Troy laughed at that. "So tell me, what are the rules with this whole thing?" he asked, gesturing between them with his hand.

"I wasn't aware there were any rules." Gabriella replied.

"So technically I could kiss you anytime I wanted." Troy stated.

Gabriella looked over at him again and smiled. "As long as no one sees." She nodded.

"Like right now in this extremely empty section of the library?" he asked, stating the obvious.

Gabriella laughed. "Perfect timing." She replied simply.

"Good." Troy replied before leaning in.

The two only broke apart when the bell rang moments later, signaling the end of free period.

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Chad Danforth made a beeline for his best friends locker, realizing he had barely seen him all day. There was something he needed to ask him about too.

"Hey man." He said, leaning against the locker beside Troy's.

Troy was silent for a moment while he kicked his gym bag into is locker and tried to shut the door before it could fall back out. He did it with complete success. "Hey Chad. He finally greeted when his lock was locked. "What's up?"

"Actually, there's something I've been meaning to ask you." Chad cut right to the chase.

"Okay, is on the way to class okay?" Troy asked quickly.

"Sure." Had replied. The two of them set off down the hall and Chad tried to think of the perfect way to start this off.

The truth was, he needed to ask Troy about Gabriella. Lately it seemed as though the two of them had been hanging out a lot more then they had when she first moved to town. As Troy's best friend, he felt like he needed to know what was going on.

Luckily for Chad, he didn't have to think of a way to bring it up, since when they turned the corner, they both saw Gabriella coming in the opposite direction. She looked like she was in a hurry but slowed down as she neared.

"Hey guys." She said happily, taking an extra moment to flash Troy a smile that Chad had never seen before. Perfect timing. As soon as she had come, she was gone too.

"So what did you want to ask me?" Troy brought up curiously.

"Well actually, it's sort of funny that we just bumped into Gabriella." Chad said easily.

Troy looked at him. "Why's that?" he asked, sounding different now that Gabriella had been brought up in conversation.

"Well, maybe I'm just going crazy, but…is there something going on with you guys?" Chad asked carefully.

"Gabriella and I?" Troy asked to make sure he was hearing clearly. Had one of them accidentally let it slip to Chad?

"Yeah, you know I've just noticed something there." Chad told him.

Troy thought for a moment and realized that thankfully, Chad didn't know what was really going on. "Maybe you misunderstood or something." Troy laughed lightly. "I've told you, Gabby and I just have a strange friendship." He said, knowing Chad would understand what he meant by 'strange' they had talked about him and Gabriella's relationship before. Now it was a complete lie, but it was what he had to do.

Chad nodded. "Yeah I know." he told Troy, though he still felt slightly suspicious.

"Believe me, you would know if there was something going on." Troy assured him, lying for a second time in one conversation.

Chad smiled. "Good to know."

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Out in California, Logan Cooper was busily grabbing some books from his locker, knowing that the bell would be ringing any moment and he would have to get to class. When he slammed his locker door shut, he was slightly shocked to see a blonde staring straight at him.

"Andy…hey." He said, feeling uneasy at the expression on her face.

"I need to talk to you." Andy told him seriously.

Logan immediately knew what this was about. "Actually, I really should be going to class, don't want to be late."

Andy grabbed his arm when he tried to turn away. "Not so fast. The bell hasn't even rung yet." She reminded him.

Logan looked at her. "Better early then late." He shrugged.

She rolled her eyes. "If I didn't know you, I might believe what you just said." She sighed. "But unfortunately for you, I know that you have never once been early for a class."

"Andy, please. Can you just let me go?" Logan finally gave up and begged.

"Fine." Andy sighed. "But can I just say one thing?" she asked carefully.

It was Logan's turn to sigh. "Okay." He agreed.

"Call her." Andy said seriously, staring him down.

"How did I know that was coming…" Logan muttered. "Andy, how many times do I have to tell you, I will. I'm just letting her get settled."

"Oh please, that is such a stupid excuse. Gabby has been gone for almost a month now, I'm pretty sure she's completely settled."

"You don't know that for sure." Logan told her.

Andy felt completely frustrated. "Yes I do, because I've actually been calling her and talking to her, and she's been doing the same." She said.

"So don't you think she would have maybe called me by now if she really wanted to keep in touch?" he asked.

Andy hadn't thought of that before. Why hadn't Gabriella talked to Logan at all? That wasn't like her. Unless there was something going on that none of them knew about. "You seriously haven't talked to her since she moved?" Andy asked, finding herself curious as to what was going on.

"No." Logan leaned against his locker. "Well apparently she asked for me when she called the night of Dana Seymour's party." He recalled. "But I didn't end up talking to her."

"Oh yeah, I remember that. You were off somewhere with Kristy Paulson and none of us could figure out what was going on between you two." Andy said as she remembered that night.

Logan looked at her. "You didn't tell Gabriella that, did you?" he asked.

The brief phone conversation flew through Andy's mind, and she cringed when she remembered. "Something might have slipped out." She confessed.

His face fell. "Why would you tell her something like that?" he asked in disbelief.

Andy shrugged. "You know me at parties." She reminded him. "Why is it such a big deal anyways? You broke up with her."

"Exactly." Logan nodded. "And yet, she was still willing to stay in touch, but the first time she tries to call I'm off with some other girl already." He pointed out. "Would you really want to stay in touch with someone like me?" he asked Andy.

Andy didn't even have a response to that. Instead, she repeated what she had said earlier. "Call her." She said before walking away.


	12. Uncontrollable Hunger

**Chapter 12: Uncontrollable Hunger**

Troy looked up from his lunch, just in time to see Gabriella walking through the doors of the cafeteria. She headed straight for the long line of students waiting to grab their lunch. After quickly paying for a salad, Troy watched her glance over to a table on the far side of the large room, and wondered where she would sit today.

Clearly Gabriella didn't care that she was friends with people in two completely different groups. Since the people in both groups would never agree sit together, she had to switch who she ate with everyday. It was something that she laughed about, since she still couldn't understand the strange ways of East high. But she did it anyways.

Luckily for her, there were days that Taylor and Kelsi would do nothing but study. As hard of a worker as Gabby was, she would rather relax during lunch. So on those days when the two girls had their noses in books, she would go and sit with Troy and the rest of the basketball guys.

It appeared that today, Taylor had a huge textbook open in front of her, and Kelsi seemed to be writing something in the notebook she always carried around. Seeing this, Gabriella turned and walked over towards where Troy was sitting. "Hey guys." She said happily, taking a seat between Troy and Chad. She ignored the few glares she got from Rachel and her friends, who were sitting at the next table.

"One of those days?" Troy asked.

Gabby nodded. "Yeah, I don't know how those girls can have books in front of them all day."

Chad shrugged. "I guess it just comes natural to them, just like being a complete ice princess comes natural to Sharpay Evans." He joked, causing everyone to laugh.

Gabriella gave him a little slap on the arm. "Be nice Chad." She told him, shaking her head. She jumped slightly when her phone started ringing, and she found herself wondering who could possibly be calling. She was surprised to see the name that appeared on the screen. "I'll be back." She said quietly before getting up from the table and heading in the direction of the doors.

Halfway across the cafeteria, she figured she had better answer quickly. So she lifted her phone to her ear, not even saying hello first. "Logan." She said instead, surprised to hear herself sounding serious.

"Hey Gabby." He replied, just as she got out into the hall, which was much quieter since it was empty. "How are you?" he asked.

How was she? That was the first thing he was choosing to say after nothing for weeks? "Um, I'm alright." Gabriella replied. "Honestly, a little surprised that you called." She added.

"Well you haven't exactly called either." She heard Logan say.

Gabriella sighed. "Yeah I guess not." She said. She continued walking down the hall, subconsciously making her way to her locker. She sat down on front of it, leaning her back on the door.

Logan was silent for a moment. She knew he was thinking of something. "Okay look Gabby, I know that you called the night of Dana's party, and I know what Andy told you." He said. Gabriella hadn't expected him to bring that up. "If you haven't called, because of that night, then I…"

"Woah, hold on." Gabby interrupted him. "I'm not mad, if that's what you're asking. That phone call isn't the reason I haven't called." She said.

"Seriously?" Logan sounded like he didn't believe her.

"Okay well maybe it's little bit of the reason." She corrected herself.

"Gabriella…" Logan started. "What's really going on?" he asked.

She took a deep breath, coming to the decision that she should come out with the truth, instead of trying to keep it hidden anymore. It was probably better if Logan heard it right from her, anyways. "See, it would be unfair for me to be mad at you for moving on, because I guess I've sort of done the same…" she told him, her voice getting quieter every moment.

"You have?" Logan asked, sounding surprised.

Gabriella bit her lip. She wasn't sure how to explain this. "Well yeah…it's complicated." She told him. She couldn't quite describe what was going on between her and Troy to her ex boyfriend.

"I see." Logan said. He didn't sound as happy as before. She knew he wasn't the type of person to get outright mad. He would be quiet instead.

Gabriella felt herself get frustrated with him. Usually she could deal with this, but right now she had no choice. "Logan, you broke up with me." She reminded him. "Technically I don't belong to you anymore." She said.

"Yeah, technically." He shot back.

Those words hit her harder then either of them expected. It was mostly because every other time the two of them had broken up, they had never been real break ups. "Well things are different this time." Gabriella informed him. "We're not with our friends or constantly together anymore."

"Are you saying that you think our friends were the only reason we kept getting back together?" Logan asked.

"No." Gabby sighed. She couldn't think of anything else to respond with.

"So now that you're gone you're just planning on forgetting everything and moving on?" Logan sounded angry.

Gabriella was starting to get completely confused with this conversation. It was twisting in an entirely different direction. "Logan I can't talk to you about this right now." she said quietly.

She heard him sigh. "Sorry…" he paused. "It's just, do you remember what you promised me the day you left?"

Gabriella nodded even though she knew he couldn't see. "Yeah." She sighed, remembering. "That I wouldn't forget."

"Yeah." Logan said quietly.

"I'm not forgetting." Gabriella told him carefully. "I know you know that."

Logan was silent for a moment. "Eventually you will." He finally said.

Gabriella didn't know what to say to that. She knew he was right. Sooner or later she would become so absorbed in this new life, and start losing touch with her old life. It was something she couldn't even think about right now. "I have to go." She decided to avoid it altogether. Before Logan could say another word, or she could change her mind, she hung up.

She sat there for a moment, trying to collect herself before doing anything else. Then she put her phone away and got up. Knowing that she didn't have much time left in her lunch break, she walked quickly back to the cafeteria. She was just going to end up throwing out her salad.

She wasn't so hungry anymore.

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That evening at dinner, Troy pushed his food around his plate. This was completely abnormal for him, since usually he would be quickly finishing every bite on his plate. But tonight, he just didn't feel like eating. He was confused, and didn't like it.

Normally, Troy didn't have a problem with girls. Unlike many of his friends, he just got them, which was probably why he had so much success. But this time was the first time he was feeling confused.

Earlier that day, at lunch, everything had been fine. Him and Gabriella had been happily eating lunch with the rest of her guys. She had gone to answer her phone, and after that, everything had changed. When she came back, she didn't seem happy like she had before. When Troy had asked her if something was wrong, she had shut him out, and he hadn't seen her since.

"Something wrong Troy?" his dad's voice cut through his thoughts.

"What? No." he answered, shaking his head.

Neither of his parents seemed to believe him. "I've never seen you not eat like this unless you lost a game or something." His mom said.

"Which doesn't even happen often." Jack added proudly.

Troy leaned back, dropping his fork beside his plate. "I'm just not hungry." He shrugged. He noticed that both of his parents had already finished eating.

His mom raised her eyebrows. "Alright, well I'll save this, so if you get hungry later you can just have it then." She told Troy while she grabbed all three of their plates.

"Okay." Troy replied. He got up from the table and went upstairs, instantly launching himself onto his bed to think some more.

About a half an hour later he heard the doorbell ringing, but he didn't bother getting up to see who it was. Apparently whoever had appeared at the door was there for him, since a few minutes later, his door was pushed open.

"Gabriella is here for you." His dad stuck his head into the room and told him.

Troy got up quickly, hoping that she might have some sort of explanation for what had happened that day. Things were getting more confusing every minute. He moved past his dad and went down the stairs. Sure enough, waiting in the doorway was Gabriella. The porch light was shining down on her.

"Hi." He said, looking at her, still slightly confused.

Gabriella looked a little nervous. "Can we talk?" she finally asked, not even saying hello back.

"Uh sure." Troy replied. "Where do you want to go?"

Gabriella gave a little shrug. "Out back?" she suggested.

"Okay, come on." Troy let her in and closed the door behind her. The two of them walked through the house and out the backyard. It was a fairly warm night for this late in the fall, but there was definitely a little chill. Gabriella sat on the bench his dad had put by the grass years ago, so Troy followed and sat beside her. "So…" he urged slightly. He still wanted to know what was going on.

Gabriella looked at him. "I figured I should come by and explain myself." She said. "I didn't mean to push you away earlier I was just sort of…" she took a deep breath. "Trying to figure things out for myself first."

"Okay." Troy nodded. He let her go on.

"It was Logan that called today." Gabriella confessed. "And after that call, I just felt really…overwhelmed."

"Overwhelmed?" Troy asked.

Gabriella sighed. She turned on the bench so that she was fully facing him. "Yeah." She said quietly. "I haven't really talked to him since I left, so it was a little intense." She paused for a moment before going on. "Sometimes it just feels like I'm living two completely different worlds, and they're going at completely different speeds and directions." She told him. "It's just hard because I feel like I'm moving on to quickly, and starting to forget everyone and everything I left behind." She was suddenly spilling everything out to Troy. "But on the other hand, shouldn't I be moving on instead of just wishing I was back there?"

"You don't have to choose." Troy told her.

"I know." Gabriella replied. "But knowing that doesn't make it any easier." She looked down at her lap.

Troy didn't have any other suggestions. "It'll get better."

"I hope so." Gabriella sighed again. She lifted her head to look at him again. "There's one thing I know for sure though, I want to make this work." She told him.

Troy smiled. "That's good to hear."

"Yeah…" she suddenly didn't sound so sure.

"Something's still wrong though." Troy said when he noticed.

Gabriella slowly nodded. "It's just hard and confusing." She confessed. "I thought I was going to live in California for the rest of my life, but that changed." She said. "And I thought that one day I might wake up and realize that I love Logan, but that has changed too."

Troy was silent for a moment. "Gabby do you still want him?" he finally asked, shocking her a little. That was a bold thing to ask. But he wanted to know.

Gabriella shook her head. "It doesn't matter." She told him. She felt herself moving a little closer to Troy. "I can't decide what I feel." she went on. "Not when I seem to have this uncontrollable hunger for someone else." She added. Somehow her hand had moved to his knee.

Troy thought about that for a moment, then a smile came to his face. "You know, it's impossible to know what you're thinking, but somehow I knew that was coming." He told her.

"So you think you can read my mind?" Gabby smirked. "Predict what I'm going to do next?"

Troy shrugged. "I can only try." He told her.

Gabriella laughed. "Okay, well I'm, getting up, and standing here waiting." She said, ending up standing on the grass in front of him. "What am I going to do next?" she asked, still smirking.

Troy knew that she was joking around now, and figured he could definitely do it too. "Easy, you're going to get chased." He told her.

Gabriella's face turned into a confused one. "What?" she asked curiously.

"You're going to get chased." Troy repeated. "Starting…now." he quickly got up.

Gabby figured it out just in time and started running away from him. The two circled the backyard a few times before Gabriella started slowing down a bit. Troy caught up right away and grabbed her around the waist. But Gabriella turned and tried to push him away, which resulted in both of them ending upon the grass. Troy was on his back with her on top of him.

When Troy opened his eyes he saw Gabriella sitting on his stomach, laughing. She caught his eyes and stopped right away, looking down at him. Her hair tumbled down beside her face.

Gabby started leaning down to kiss him, but Troy remembered something important before she could. "My parents are home." He reminded her.

"Oh yeah." Gabriella said. For a second it looked like she was going to kiss him anyways, but then she sat back up and slid off of him. She lay down on the grass and used his stomach as a pillow. They had always done this in the summers when they were little, looking out for shooting stars.

She knew that Troy was reliving the same memories because he was silent too. Then, out of the blue, his stomach grumbled, and Gabriella lifted her head, bursting into laughter again. "What was that for?" she asked.

Troy recalled how he hadn't eaten dinner that night and knew exactly why his stomach had just growled. "I'm hungry."


	13. Not Just The Same Old Day

**Sorry for the wait, I went away for a week with friends.**

**Anyways, this is a nice long chapter and I think you'll like it...at least I hope you will.**

**Enjoy!**

**Chapter 13: Not just the same old day**

Gabriella Montez was tiredly getting ready for school a few days after she had told Troy she wanted to make things work. She glanced at the calendar hanging on her wall, and realized that in a few weeks it would be Christmas break. She had already been here for a little over a month.

It made her realize, her and Troy had been secretly going out for almost a month now. Time sure did fly. She wasn't complaining though. East high was turning out to be great.

She had become completely close with Taylor and Kelsi, who were completely opposite from some of her old girl friends. They were the only girls in East high who seemed to care less if she hung out with Troy Bolton or not. They were down to earth, and she liked that. Other then that, things with Troy were going fine.

Gabriella figured that she could safely say that things were finally becoming normal, uncomplicated, and pretty much stress free. And so she left her house and hopped into her car, thinking today would be just like others in the weeks that had just passed.

Boy was she in for a surprise.

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"Okay, a little to the left." Sharpay Evans stared looked up at the two girls who were on top of ladders. They were struggling to put up a banner thanks to Sharpay's instructions. "A little to the right." She told them. One of the girls almost dropped it, and Sharpay held back from grinning. "Okay down about an inch and it'll be perfect!" she decided to put them out of their misery after nearly fifteen minutes of the banner barely moving back and forth.

"Winter dance." Ryan said from behind her. "Same time every year." He looked up at the banner. "Looks good Shar." He completely lied. The thing was covered in glitter.

"I know." Sharpay replied and turned to head to her locker.

Ryan rolled his eyes and followed her. A little ways down the hall the pair passed by the locker of Troy Bolton. He had the door open and was looking into it, grabbing a few books to put into his bag.

"Hi Troy." Sharpay stopped and said in her overly perky way. Ryan saw Troy jump a little before he turned around.

"Hey Sharpay." Troy smiled. Ryan thought it looked a little forced. He closed his locker at the same time.

"So do you know who you're going to bring to the winter dance this year?" Sharpay right cut to the chase. It was her way of hinting at herself.

Troy looked confused before glancing down the hall and seeing the banner hanging from the ceiling. "Oh, you put the banner up and everything." He said. "Well honestly, I haven't thought about it yet." He answered her question.

Sharpay gave a little giggle. "Of course you haven't" she said.

"Yeah." Troy nodded and looked down the hall again at the huge glittery banner. He saw Gabriella stop a few feet away from it and look up at it. "Catch you later…" he told Sharpay and Ryan distractedly and took off to go see Gabriella.

Ryan moved his eyes from watching Troy to the look on his sister's face. Sharpay remained calm at first, before looking completely annoyed. "Let's go Ryan." She huffed and continued on her way to their lockers.

Meanwhile, Troy was busy sneaking up on Gabriella. He stopped right behind her and almost let out a laugh when she didn't notice him. "Good morning." He leaned forward and said quietly. Gabriella jumped a little before turning around to face him. "Did I scare you?" he asked with a smirk.

"A little." Gabriella laughed. "I'm a little tired since I had to finish homework when I finally got home last night." She told him, remembering how they had gone out to a movie, but had gotten distracted on the way home and had ended up getting ice cream and hanging out in the park. "Plus I was overly distracted by that." She pointed up at the banner hanging not far away.

"Oh yeah." Troy nodded. It was that time of year again, when everything went crazy.

Gabriella looked at him and gave a little laugh. "Another one of those East High things I wouldn't understand?" she guessed.

"No it's not that…" Troy started. "It's just…"

"Hey guys!" They both heard Chad's enthusiastic voice as he came between them, putting an arm around each of their shoulders in a friendly way. "How's it going? Nice banner huh?" he asked jokingly.

"Yeah, sure…" Troy said distractedly.

Chad looked at his friend. "Someone's not himself today." He concluded.

"I guess not." Troy seemed to deep in thought to answer.

Chad just shook that off and moved on to Gabriella instead. "So tell me Ms. Montez, now that East High's lovely winter dance has been presented to you, are there any potential dates in your mind?" he asked her.

Gabriella glanced over at Troy in shock, hoping Chad hadn't noticed. "Uh…" she started.

"I hope you're not trying to get with her or something." They heard from behind. Chad let go of Troy and Gabriella and the three of them turned to see Taylor standing there, Kelsi was just rushing up beside her.

"Hey guys." Gabriella said happily. They had no idea how perfectly timed they were.

"Look how happy she is that we rescued her from you." Taylor told Chad

"Oh don't start now….please." Kelsi groaned.

"Yeah…how about we just go to class." Gabriella suggested, hoping to stop one of Chad and Taylor's bickering moments before they could begin.

"Sounds good." Taylor said happily. "We have chemistry, right Gabby?" She asked.

"Yep." Gabriella replied.

"So do I." Troy said.

"Me too." Chad groaned.

"Ugh no fair…I hate my English class, no one good is in it." Kelsi said angrily, being the only one in a different class.

Jason, who happened to be walking by, stopped when he heard this. "Hey, I'm heading to English if you want to walk with me." He offered.

Kelsi seemed a little taken aback at first. "Sure." She smiled a moment later. "See you later guys!" she called back at Taylor and Gabriella.

"That was weird." Chad said when they were gone.

"Yeah well I know something weirder…" Taylor muttered and rolled her eyes. Gabriella couldn't help but give a little laugh.

"Oh ha-ha, very funny McKessie," Chad started walking alongside Taylor as she took off in the direction of chemistry class. The two of them continued to bicker the whole way along, amusing and annoying Troy and Gabriella, who walked silently behind.

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Sharpay Evans wasn't paying any attention to the group she was supposed to be working with. It didn't matter anyways, since she didn't exactly feel like doing some strange chemistry experiment. That's what Ryan was for.

She was much more interested on keeping her eyes on a group across the lab, which consisted of Troy Bolton, his dopey sidekick Chad Danforth, Taylor McKessie and the highly annoying new girl, Gabriella whatever-her-name-was. The four of them seemed to have split the work into two parts. Chad and Taylor were arguing over their part, while Gabriella seemed to be helping Troy along with theirs.

Never had Sharpay seen the basketball captain more interested in Chemistry in all of her time spent in the same classes as him. Something was definitely up, and she didn't like it at all.

"Shar…are you going to help or what?" Ryan asked yet again.

She didn't respond for a moment. "Oh, you need help?" she asked when she finally pulled her eyes away from the other group.

Ryan shook his head and gave a little sigh. "You know, I wont always be here for you to count on." He pointed out.

Sharpay's eyes widened. Rarely did Ryan argue how much she used him. She thought of getting mad at him, but then an idea came to her head. "You're right." She agreed, and saw the shock on his face. "But right now you're here and I don't have to worry, so why don't you ask Gabriella to the winter dance?"

"What?" Ryan didn't follow her sudden change of subject.

"Why don't you ask Gabriella to the winter dance." Sharpay repeated herself, rolling her eyes.

Ryan took that in, knowing that his sister must have some sort of plan in the works. He followed her eyes to where he was staring again, and suddenly figured it out. "So that Troy Bolton is free to take you?" he asked, knowing perfectly well that he was right.

"Well duh!" Sharpay rolled her eyes again.

At her comment, Rachel Harper raised her head from her work and gave a little disgusted laugh. "Did I just hear what I think I did?" She asked. Her cheerleader friend beside her seemed interested too. "You and Troy Bolton?" she said.

"You know, it's rude to eavesdrop." Sharpay told her coldly.

Rachel gave another little laugh. "Okay whatever, but he's mine, just so you know." she informed the blonde sitting across from her.

"Says who exactly?" Sharpay demanded.

Rachel rolled her eyes and didn't bother to respond. "Drama queen…" she muttered in disgust instead.

"Drama queen?" Sharpay was standing at the table now. "At least I'm not some stupid cheerleader." She shot back.

Rachel stood up too. "Actually, I'm head cheerleader." She corrected Sharpay, as if it really mattered. "And I'm not stupid."

"Could have fooled me." Sharpay told her.

By now, the two of them had gotten most of the class's attention. Ryan had sunk as low as he possibly could on his lab stool, and their teacher was coming over. "Ladies, what is going on here?" Mrs. Treadway asked tiredly.

"She started it!" Sharpay and Rachel said at the same time, pointing to each other.

Mrs. Treadway gave up right away trying to get an answer out of either of the girls. "Mr. Evans, you seem to know what's going on here, care to share?" she asked.

Ryan swallowed, knowing he was getting a glare from Sharpay, but knowing that Mrs. Treadway would get upset if he didn't reply. "They were uh…arguing over Troy Bolton miss." He muttered. He knew that Troy was watching what was going on, along with the rest of the class.

Mrs. Treadway gave a sigh, used to this by now. "Okay you two." She looked at Sharpay and Rachel. "Why don't you take a trip to the office, since clearly you need to learn to focus on your studies instead of arguing over boys."

The two girls got up from their table, and collected their things. Everyone pretended that they weren't staring. Before Sharpay left though, she leaned down to Ryan. "Ask Gabriella." She reminded him in a whisper.

He sighed and went back to his work, knowing he had to do exactly what she said, or ordered anyways.

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"Well that was an…eventful class." Troy commented when the bell finally rung to end chemistry class a while later.

"Sure was." Chad gave a laugh.

"Yeah…" Gabriella gave a strange sigh, which only Troy seemed to notice.

Taylor just rolled her eyes. "Gabriella, let's go meet Kelsi in the library." She said, remembering their plans for free period.

"Sure…can I meet you there though? I have to get something from my locker." Gabriella replied.

"Yeah I have to grab my gym stuff from my locker so we can practice." Troy told Chad.

"Alright I'll see you there man." Chad waved. Him and Taylor went in opposite directions, leaving their friends by themselves.

Gabriella looked at Troy. "I'm that way." She pointed over her shoulder, knowing that his locker was in the opposite direction. She took off right away.

"Okay what's wrong?" Troy asked knowingly after appearing beside her a moment later. "And don't say nothing, because clearly there's something on your mind." He added.

Gabriella looked at him. "Isn't your locker the other way?" she asked.

"Chad can wait a few extra minutes." Troy shrugged.

"Okay fine." Gabby shrugged. "I guess I'm still getting used to the fact that the mere mention of you can cause things like two girls getting sent to the office, and probably ending up with detention."

"Yeah…" Troy sighed. "I guess that's just the way it is."

"It just freaks me out a bit." Gabriella admitted.

He looked at her in fake shock. "Did I just hear that right?" he asked jokingly. "Because I seem to remember you telling me that you weren't afraid of those girls."

Gabriella gave a little laugh. "I'm not scared of them." She gave him a little shove, which did hardly anything to move him.

"Sure you aren't." Troy smiled.

"So you never got around to telling me." Gabriella changed the subject. They reached her locker and she started opening it. "What is it about this winter dance thing that seems to leave you so lost for words?"

"You haven't figured that out yet?" he asked. "I thought you would have by now, smarty pants."

"Smarty pants?" Gabriella scrunched up her nose in what Troy thought was an adorable way, and laughed. "What are we five again?" she asked him.

Troy laughed too. "Maybe." He shrugged.

"So it is about the girls then." Gabriella said, getting back on topic.

Troy seemed unsure. "I don't know really." He said with a little shrugged. "See, the term winter dance is pretty much an understatement, since it's really more like a winter prom."

Gabriella nodded. "Oh…I get it." She said. "Every girl starts freaking out because they want the perfect date." She went on. "Which I'm guessing would be…you." She looked at him. "Am I right?"

"I don't know." Troy shrugged. "Do you want to find out?"

Gabriella was in the middle of grabbing a book off of the top shelf of her locker, and smiled when she heard that. "Are you asking me to go with you?" she asked him.

"Well unless you can think of some other girlfriend I have….then yes." Troy replied with a little laugh.

"Shh…someone might hear you!" Gabriella told him quickly.

Troy looked at her. "Would that really be terrible if they did?" he asked.

Gabriella's smile faded a little. "What do you mean Troy?"

"Okay I've been thinking…" he started. "You said you wanted to make this work right?" he asked.

"Yeah." Gabriella was a little scared about where this was going.

"Well, don't you think things would really start to work well if we…" Troy started.

"Wait, are you suggesting we tell everyone about us?" Gabriella interrupted him, needing to know right away.

"Wouldn't it make this more real?" Troy asked.

Gabriella hadn't really expected that. She was still trying to deal with all of her old friends reactions to the news that she had a new boyfriend. Now Troy wanted to inform everyone else? "You know what," she swallowed, which was currently difficult for her. "I should really get to the library or Taylor is going to hunt me down." She told him. "Can we talk about this later?"

"Um…sure." Troy was a little shocked.

"Okay, bye." Gabriella quickly slammed her locker, and before Troy could figure out a way to stop her, she was taking off around the corner. She was rushing so much, that she didn't even see the person coming towards her in the opposite direction until she banged right into them. There were a few unmistakable thumps of books hitting the floor. "Sorry!" she said right away before she knew who it was.

"Oh, hey Gabriella." She heard, and finally realized that it was Ryan Evans she had run into. "Sorry, I wasn't really paying attention to where I was going.

"That makes two of us." Gabriella smiled at him. She bent down and helped him pick his books up off the floor.

"Thanks." Ryan said as she handed them back to him.

"No problem." Gabriella smiled. "So how come every time I see you, your books are all over the floor?" she asked jokingly.

"I have no idea actually." Ryan told her, watching her laugh a little at that. "So where are you heading?" he asked.

"The library, how about you?" Gabriella asked.

Ryan looked at his pile of books, half of which Gabriella assumed belonged to his sister. "Well I was heading to the theatre actually" he told her. "Sharpay likes to study there during free periods. She pretty much spends all of her spare time at school in there. Apparently it's nice and peaceful for her or something…" he trailed off. "But I can take the long route and walk with you if you'd like some company?" he offered, slightly awkwardly. He was suddenly remembering what Sharpay had asked him to do that morning and figured now would be a great time to do it.

"That sounds nice actually." Gabby smiled. She started walking, and Ryan fell into step with her.

"So there is actually something I wanted to ask you." Ryan started after a long silence.

"Oh, okay." Gabriella said. 'Well go ahead." She told him.

"Um…" he said, sounding nervous. "Do you want to go with me to the winter dance?" he finished quickly, getting it over with.

Gabriella was a little shocked to hear that. She thought back to her conversation moments ago with Troy. "Oh…well that's really nice of you Ryan… but I'm sort of already going with someone."

"Troy?" Ryan guessed.

That shocked her even more. "Where did you hear that?" she asked, completely confused.

"Nowhere." Ryan shrugged. "I just guessed."

"You did?" Gabriella was more confused than ever.

"Yeah." He nodded happily. "Troy told me a while ago that he liked you, so I just figured he would have asked you."

"Oh, okay." Gabriella accepted that explanation. "Well I'm sorry I can't go with you then Ryan."

To her surprise, he smiled. "It's fine." Ryan told her. "Actually, I don't really like you in that way, if you know what I mean."

Gabriella looked at him. "So why did you ask me then?" she asked.

"Well, actually, it's sort of strange…" Ryan rubbed the back of his head thoughtfully. "My sister wanted me to ask you, because she's hoping Troy will ask her, and she thinks you're in the way."

"Oh." Gabriella didn't have the heart to ask why Ryan did everything his sister ordered him to do. She didn't want to upset him. "Well that's…"

"Crazy?" he finished for her. "Yeah, tell me about it." He gave a little laugh. "Meanwhile you just keep your cool and you've already got the guy." He told Gabriella brightly.

"Yeah…I guess so." Gabriella smiled a little.

The two of them stopped in front of the doors of the library. "Well, here you go." Ryan said. "I'd better get to the theatre, but I'll see you later Gabriella."

"Alright, bye Ryan!" she told him, before pulling open one of the big red doors and stepping into the big silent room.

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Troy was just finishing up getting changed after his free period basketball practice session, in which he hadn't exactly had his head in the game. He knew everyone had noticed, which was probably why Chad was approaching him at that very moment.

"Hey buddy, how's it going?" Chad said happily when he got to Troy.

Troy shrugged. "Alright." He said. "Let's go eat, I'm starving." He suggested, knowing that lunch had started five minutes ago.

"Sounds good." Chad replied, and stayed silent while they walked out to the hall. "So seriously, nothing is up?" he asked while they walked.

"If I told you that yes, there is maybe something bugging me a little, would you stop asking?" Troy asked him, beginning to get a little annoyed.

"Ooh there is something!" Chad said. "Does this something have to do with the winter dance possibly?" he asked. When Troy didn't reply, he knew it was a yes. "Too many girls?" he figured. "I know they're usually all over you as soon as the banner goes up."

Troy thought about that for a moment. "Actually, for once, that's not the problem." He admitted.

"So you already know which girl it's going to be then?" Chad asked, knowing he was slowly getting Troy to admit everything.

Troy looked at him. "I never said I'd already chosen someone."

"I won't stop until I know." Chad ignored him completely

"Chad, drop it." Troy said before taking off across the cafeteria, hungrier than ever. Chad caught up with him right away, and Troy sighed.

"Come on man, who's the girl?" Chad asked in a desperate whisper so that none of the other guy would hear him. He wasn't about to give up.

"Okay, fine! I'll tell you but you have to promise to keep your mouth shut okay?" Troy whispered back, giving up.

Chad nodded eagerly, knowing this would be good. "Okay, I promise."

Troy looked around, everyone else was occupied with other conversations. "It's Gabriella." He finally whispered, even quieter than before. The cafeteria seemed to get louder in that moment.

"Pardon?" Chad asked.

"It's Gabriella." Troy repeated, a tiny bit louder.

"What?" Chad still hadn't heard right.

"Gabriella!" Troy said, not bothering to whisper anymore. He was too annoyed to care.

"Oh." Chad shrunk a little under Troy's glare. "Seriously?"

"Yes!" Troy sighed in frustration.

Chad smiled. "I knew there was something going on there dude!" he said enthusiastically. "Why did you never tell me?"

But Troy wasn't listening, he had become completely lost in thought. He was watching the doors of the cafeteria, waiting for Gabriella to appear. When he finally saw her, he jumped up quickly from his seat and went to go an meet her. "Gabriella, he called to get her attention.

"Oh, hey." Gabriella said a little awkwardly.

"I think we need to talk for a minute." Troy told her.

"Okay." Gabby agreed. She let him lead her back through the doors she had just come through. The hall was practically empty outside. "What is it?" she looked at Troy when they stopped, though she had a feeling it was the same subject as before.

"You never answered me this morning." Troy told her.

"Answered what? She asked, trying to remember exactly what he had said. Apparently it had freaked her out to much, and she could barely remember anything accept how she had suddenly fled.

"Don't you think this will be more real if we just come out with it, you know and just tell everyone?" Troy asked.

Gabriella looked at him. "Why are you suddenly so set on not keeping this just between us anymore?" she asked carefully.

"You said the other night that you want to make this work, right?" Troy said.

"Right." She replied. "Do you not think this is working or something?"

"No it's working fine." Troy replied quickly. "But eventually it'll stop working so well, don't you think?" he asked.

"Maybe." Gabriella shrugged. "But we can deal with it then."

Troy looked at her carefully. "Why are you so scared of this?"

Gabriella was speechless for a moment. "I'm not scared." She finally said. "And I really don't want to talk about this anymore." She told him, turning and heading back into the busy cafeteria.

Troy went after her, not wanting to finish this now. "Come on Gabby!" he said, but she remained silent all the way to the table, where she promptly sat down with no lunch in front of her. All of the guys greeted her happily, and she smiled back. Troy took the seat beside her. "Remember originally we only said we'd keep it a secret until we knew it was working out fine?" he reminded her.

"You think this is everything working out fine?" She asked quietly.

Troy sighed. "Gabriella…"

"No Troy please, I said I don't want to talk about this right now." Gabriella told him. She started getting up from where she had just sat down. "I need to think first." She said before turning away. By now, most of the table was watching.

Troy was completely frustrated. He was just realizing how much he wanted this. She had told all of her friends about him, so why was she so scared now? He realized he had never felt like this before, and it had taken the winter dance coming along to make him see that. He needed Gabriella to know that. He needed this to be real. So he decided to take a big risk.

The whole table was shocked when Troy suddenly got up from his seat, and instead of following Gabriella like they might have guessed, he climbed first onto his empty seat, and then onto the table top.

"Troy what are you doing?" Chad asked as if he were crazy.

Troy ignored him. "Gabriella!" he called. She stopped but didn't turn around, waiting to hear what he had to say.

"Come on man, get down." Chad advised, immediately being ignored again. He had never seen his best friend act like this before.

With those words, Gabriella turned around in curiosity, wanting to know where exactly Chad wanted Troy to get own from. "Oh my god…" she muttered. She quickly walked closer to the table. "Troy what are you doing?" she asked, turning bright red. She knew that the whole cafeteria had noticed what was going on now.

"You keep trying to avoid this conversation and walk away." he told her.

"Troy please come down from there…" Gabby didn't want everyone to see this. "You're standing on a table, that's not normal!" She told him, hoping that he might realize just how crazy she was acting.

He shook his head. "Not until we finish this." He said stubbornly.

Gabriella was more frustrated then ever. "Fine." She sighed again. She stared up at him and waited for him to talk.

"Okay look ever since that day you showed up here, I've been thrown for a loop." Troy told her. "We have that childhood bond that no one seems to understand, and you're just completely different from every girl in this school. I can talk to you, and tell you things and stuff."

Gabriella had turned bright red by the end of that, simply because she could feel everyone watching now. "Where are you going with this?" she asked quietly, wanting this to be over.

Troy shrugged. "It's only been about a month, but it's felt like years now. So I'll admit it, okay?" he said, almost sounding helpless. "I'm falling in love with you Gabriella."

"What?" she asked in shock. She heard several gasps throughout the cafeteria.

Troy didn't repeat himself. He knew she had heard him perfectly well. "Do you feel the same way?" he asked instead, extending a hand to her.

Gabriella looked at him. He wanted her to get up there with him. "This is the real reason you wanted to tell everyone, isn't it?" she asked, trying to decide if she felt the same way.

"I have no idea. Maybe…" Troy shrugged. "I just realized it myself."

Gabriella bit her lip, thinking hard. It was then that she really realized what was going on here. He had taken a risk, just for her. There was no turning back now.

She stepped even closer to the table and grabbed Troy's hand. She let him pull her up, even though she was freaking out a bit. Once she was up there, she closed her eyes, not wanting to see everyone staring back.

"Hey open your eyes. Its really not so bad up here you know." she heard Troy say, and opened them back up again. He was smiling at her.

"I guess not." Gabriella smiled back. "So…no more hiding?" She concluded.

Troy pulled her even closer. "No more hiding." He repeated, before kissing her.

Gabriella suddenly realized that Troy had been right all morning, because now things really felt real. When they pulled apart she gave a little laugh, thinking of her first thoughts that morning. "Funny, I thought today was just going to be a normal day."


	14. After The Magic

**Alright sorry for taking so long (again). I've been pretty busy with a bunch of personal things in my life, but I try to write as much as I possibly can.**

**Chapter 14: After The Magic**

"Ugh!" Sharpay stormed into one of the dressing rooms, located backstage of East High's auditorium. Though it wasn't technically her room, Sharpay used it for everything. A dressing room, more locker space, her own personal study room, and even a place to relax. Right now she needed a place to relax. "I bet she planned this!" she huffed, plopping down on a small pink couch.

"I don't think so." Ryan said. He had been the only person to follow his sister out of the cafeteria, when she had stormed out. She had cause quite a scene. He had practically needed to run to keep up with the upset Drama Queen.

"Yeah because you're just another person who thinks Gabriella Montez is such a nice, sweet girl." Sharpay accused. "It's such an act." She said in disgust.

"Why would Gabriella be plotting against you?" Ryan asked, wishing he could take those words back the moment they left his mouth.

Sharpay glared at him. "Oh shut up Ryan!" she snapped.

"Fine." Ryan rolled his eyes, making sure that she couldn't see.

"You were supposed to stop this from happening." She told him after a moment of silence.

"What? By asking Gabriella to the dance?" Ryan asked in shock. "Did you not hear Troy? He said he is falling in love with her. Clearly it's been going on for a while." He pointed out to his sister.

In response, he got another glare. "Just leave me alone Ryan!" Sharpay got up and started pushing him towards the door.

"Hey stop!" Ryan tried to stop her, but Sharpay was stronger than she appeared. "I'm older you know, you should treat me with a little more respect."

"Yeah by three minutes, big deal!" Sharpay opened the door she had slammed moments before. With one final push, she got Ryan out of the room, and slammed the door again right away.

Ryan turned to the door. "Yeah well you should still treat me a little better you know!" he yelled through the door.

"Hey Ryan." He heard from behind him, and turned quickly.

"Zeke?" Ryan was a little shocked to see the basketball player standing there. He was even more shocked to see a container of cookies in his hands.

"Is Sharpay okay?" Zeke asked. To Ryan's surprise, he looked a little worried. "I saw her leaving the cafeteria, she looked pretty upset." He said.

"Oh she's…" Ryan started, and heard a slam come from inside of the dressing room. "Just peachy." He finished. "She might not feel like talking at the moment though."

"Oh okay, well I can wait." Zeke replied.

"Alright…" Ryan thought there was something odd about Zeke right now, but he shook it off, figuring that today was just going to be a strange day no matter what.

From inside the dressing room, they both heard another one of Sharpay's upset huffs. "Oh she's so going down."

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Troy and Gabriella had managed to escape the cafeteria, accompanied by their friends, except Zeke, who had seemingly disappeared. "Should I be scared that Sharpay Evan's stormed out of the cafeteria?" Gabriella asked, sounding a little nervous.

"Maybe…" Taylor told her.

"I would be." Chad said honestly, shrugging.

Troy shot him a look, before wrapping an arm around Gabriella. "Don't worry I'll protect you baby." He smiled at her. She rolled her eyes but smiled happily anyways. Troy looked back at Kelsi and Jason who were having a hushed conversation. "Okay what's up with you two?" he asked. They both looked up, falling silent immediately.

"Come on, out with it." Chad urged.

"Okay…" Jason scratched the back of his head. "I have a date for the dance." He told them all.

"Ooh." Troy, Gabriella and Taylor nodded, figuring it out right away.

"Who?" Chad asked stupidly. Troy rolled his eyes at his friend.

"Me." Kelsi replied simply.

"This day is like tell all day isn't it?" Chad laughed lightly. He looked at Troy and Gabriella. "Finally, you two just admitted it, now Kelsi and Jason…who would have known?" he laughed lightly.

"We're just friends." Kelsi and Jason said in unison. They looked at each other and blushed a little.

"Yeah so were Troy and Gabriella." Taylor said. Everyone else laughed.

"I can't believe you never told me man!" Chad said to Troy. "I even asked you if there was something going on with you and Gabriella….don't you remember that?"

Troy simply shrugged. "It was a secret." He told Chad.

"Yeah, that's really stopped you before." Chad muttered sarcastically.

"Troy." They all suddenly heard. "Gabriella." Everyone froze when they saw Mr. Bolton standing a few feet away. He had a completely unreadable expression on his face.

"Hi…coach." Troy said a little uneasily, dropping his arm from around Gabriella. She found it strange to hear him being called coach, especially by Troy.

"Could I talk to the two of you for a moment?" Jack Bolton asked.

"Uh…sure." Troy glanced at Gabriella, who looked a little helpless. Their friends moved to the other side of the hallway to wait for Troy and Gabriella. "So…news travels fast in this school." Jack started. "I heard about what just happened in the cafeteria."

"Oh boy… Gabriella whispered to herself. She was beginning to get a little overwhelmed with everything going on.

"Um….yeah…I…" Troy stuttered.

Suddenly his dad let out a little laugh. "Why do you both look so terrified right now?" he asked, looking amused.

"Because…" Troy said. He thought it was pretty obvious.

"Don't worry, I'm not mad or anything. A little shocked maybe, but not upset or anything." His dad went on. "I mean…you two? You are like…"

"Believe me, we didn't exactly plan any of this to happen." Gabriella cut in, trying to explain.

"Yeah, it just sort of happened." Troy added.

Mr. Bolton put his hands up. "You don't need to explain it to me." He told them both. "But I think you need two need to tell the rest of your parents what's going on."

"That would be the next step I guess." Gabriella sighed.

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On the other side of the hallway, their friends were talking and waiting for Troy and Gabriella to finish. "I hope they aren't getting in trouble or anything." Kelsi said, looking a little worried.

"Nah, coach doesn't look mad or anything." Jason assured her. "Things are going pretty quick though…Gabriella is already meeting one of Troy's parents." He said stupidly.

Chad looked at his friend. "Jason, they've been friend's since they were born…I think they've met each other's parents before." Chad told him.

"Oh…yeah." Jason sighed and leaned against the locker.

Taylor shot Chad a glare. "Changing the subject…when did something start going on with you two?" she asked, looking at Kelsi and Jason. "I had no idea you two ever talked to each other."

"Yeah well sometimes when you two are bickering about who knows what…we actually have civilized conversations." Kelsi explained. "Did you know Jason plays guitar?" she asked happily.

"You play guitar?" Chad asked Jason, sounding completely surprised. Jason nodded with a smile

Taylor rolled her eyes. A moment later a strange look came to her face. She had missed Kelsi and Jason bonding because of stupid bickering with…Chad. She didn't like that at all. "Okay listen Danforth," she snapped her fingers in front of Chad's face to get his attention. "Now that our friends are dating, I guess we're going to have to form some sort of truce." Taylor said, slightly unwillingly.

"Truce?" Chad asked. "What are you talking about?"

"I think we should try to stop our constant…bickering or whatever they like to call it." She said with slight disgust. Weren't couples supposed to be the ones who bickered? "What do you say?" she asked Chad.

"I'll keep my mouth shut if you can keep yours shut." Chad told her, holding out his hand for her to shake.

Taylor laughed. "You better believe I will." She shook his hand.

"Good." Chad nodded. "Oh and McKessie?" he asked.

"Yes?" she replied. She tried to pull her hand away from his but Chad held on tight. "Hey, let go of my hand!" she tugged harder.

"Do you have a date to the winter dance?" Chad asked randomly.

Taylor stopped tugging and stared at him in shock. "No…" she finally answered. "I don't really want to go with anyone." She told him.

"Well good, neither do I." Chad said. "Why don't we go with no one together?"

Taylor looked completely confused. "Uh…sure."

"Good." Chad said again. He let go of her hand. Smiling at the half shocked, half confused look that was still plastered on her face.

"Is there something in the air today?" Jason looked around jokingly.

"Alright, see you two later." They all heard coach Bolton say from across the hall. When they looked, they saw Troy and Gabriella coming towards them. Thankfully, their smiles hadn't faded at all, and they looked just as happy as before, as well as relieved.

"Okay, we're done." Troy said when his dad was out of earshot.

Gabriella was more focused on her friends. "What's going on here?" she asked them. Chad and Taylor were standing a little awkwardly.

"Chad just asked Taylor to the dance." Kelsi filled her in, trying not to laugh in the process.

"I did not." Chad argued.

"Yes you did." Jason laughed.

"No…Taylor told me that she didn't want a date, and neither do I." Chad explained. "We're just going without dates but together…right Taylor?" she asked.

"Right." Taylor nodded.

"That's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard." Troy blurted out. He started laughing a little.

"Troy!" Gabriella elbowed him in the side to get him to stop laughing. He did and rubbed his ribs in pain.

"I wouldn't talk if I were you man." Chad pointed out. "You just stood on a table in the cafeteria and made a fool of yourself."

"Yeah, for a good reason." Troy defended himself.

Gabriella sighed. "I think it's good that you guys are…sort of going together." She said to Taylor and Chad. "Now we can all be together."

"She's right." Kelsi nodded.

No one else disagreed. There was a moment of silence before Chad asked, "So how did things go with coach?"

"They went fine…" Troy said a little uneasily.

"He wasn't mad or anything?" Jason asked.

Troy shook his head. "No, of course not."

"We just have to tell the rest of our parents now." Gabriella said, a little nervous smile on her face.

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Later that afternoon, after Troy's basketball practice, which Gabriella had happily watched, she and Troy hopped into her car and headed to her house. Earlier that day, they had agreed to go over to her house for a while after school, so that they could hang out alone. No friends, no fellow students whispering and smiling as they passed in the halls.

There was only one thing not to be excited about. Her mom was sure to be home.

Gabriella opened her front door and the two of them walked into the front hall. "Hello? She called. "Mom?" They waited a minute and there was no reply. "She must be out." Gabriella shrugged. "You want something to eat?" She asked Troy.

"I'm starving actually." He replied.

"Well what are you standing around for?" Gabby gave him a look before turning and heading for the kitchen.

"I'm right behind you." Troy told her and followed.

Just as she was about to step into the kitchen, Gabriella suddenly stopped on the spot. Troy almost ran straight into her. "Mom." She sounded a little shocked.

Troy looked up. "Mom?" he said, a little shocked too.

Both of their mother's were sitting at the kitchen table, tea in front of them. "Oh, hi Troy. I figured I'd just see you at home later." Mrs. Bolton said happily. "No basketball practice today?" she asked.

"It ended." Troy replied.

His mom looked at the clock. "Wow. It's later than I expected. I guess time just flies when you're having fun." She laughed.

"Yeah…it just flies…" Troy sighed

"So what are you two up to?" Mrs. Montez asked him and Gabriella.

Gabriella glanced at Troy. "We're just hanging out." She told her mom. "But Troy's hungry from practice, so I figured I'd get him something to eat."

"Oh, alright, well there's lot's here." Her mom replied happily.

Troy and Gabriella turned away from their moms, who immediately went back to talking and drinking their tea. Troy looked over at Gabby. "You think now would be a good time…we could just tell them together." He asked in a whisper.

"Yeah it would be perfect timing I guess." Gabriella nodded. "How do you think they'll react?" she asked, peeking over her shoulder at the two older women.

Troy shrugged. "We wont know unless we just do it." He said, watching her nod along. "Want me to…."

"No it's okay, I'll start this." Gabriella whispered and shook her head. She turned around to face their moms again. "Mom…there's something I need to tell you." Gabriella said a little nervously. She decided to go straight for it and get it over with. "I have a boyfriend…actually, for a while now I have…"

"A boyfriend?" her mom repeated, interrupting her. "But what about Logan?" she asked.

Gabriella instantly wished she hadn't said anything. "Mom! We broke up…you know that." She said. "And can you please not talk about my ex boyfriend in front of my new one?" she asked, before glancing at Troy. "Sorry." She whispered to him.

"But your new boyfriend isn't even here." Mrs. Montez argued her daughter.

Gabriella sighed. "Yes mom…he is."

They waited while their moms both realized what was going on. "You two?" they said at the exact same time.

"Yeah…" Troy replied with a little nod.

There was a moment of silence before Gabriella's mom turned to Troy's. "Our crazy little dream came true in the end I guess." She said with a little laugh.

"Exactly what I was thinking!" Mrs. Bolton laughed.

"What?" Troy interrupted them, completely confused.

"Well…." His mom replied. She seemed to be looking for the best way to explain it. "When you two were little we couldn't but help but have this crazy fantasy of you two falling in love when you got older." She said with a little far off smile.

"It's almost like it's meant to be." Gabriella's mom had the same look on her face.

"Right…" Troy sounded a little unsure.

Gabriella sighed. "This day has been weird enough that I just have nothing to say to that.." she shook her head lightly. "Come on, let's go upstairs." She told Troy, grabbing a plate of brownies from the fridge.

"Sounds good to me." Troy nodded and followed her.

When they were out of the kitchen, their mom's seemed to snap back to reality. "You better keep that bedroom door open!" Gabby heard her mom yell.

"Right mom…got it!" Gabriella sighed again and rolled her eyes. She turned on the stairs and looked at Troy, who was laughing now. "You still think telling everyone was a good idea?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.

Troy was silent for a moment. "Yep." He nodded simply. He started walking up the stairs and grabbed a brownie on his way past her.

"Hey I didn't say you could have any yet." She told him just as they made it into her room.

Troy turned around to face her. "Sorry." He shrugged, hands out at his sides.

"Hey where'd that brownie go?" Gabby asked. He wasn't holding it anymore.

He pointed to his stomach, with a look like a five year old caught for taking cookies from the cookie jar. "I ate it." He told her.

Gabriella just laughed and shook her head. She sat down and leaned against the end of her bed. Troy did the same. She grabbed a brownie and picked at it a little. "So did you really mean what you said today?" she asked after a while. "Up on the lunch table?" She added.

"Yeah." Troy nodded without hesitation. "Of course."

Gabriella smiled. "Good." She said. That had been exactly what she wanted to hear.


	15. Looking Good

**This is a little shorter then usual...but Enjoy! I'm leaving today for a week, so I won't be able to update my other story until then. Look out for it though!  
**

**Chapter 15: Looking Good**

"Mom I'm leaving!" Gabriella rushed down the stairs in her front hall. Her arms were filled with a bunch of stuff that she had just spent the past hour packing. She was just about to leave her house so that she could go get ready for the winter dance at Taylor's.

"Where are you going?" Her mom came out of the kitchen to ask. She looked confused.

"Mom I've told you, I'm going to Taylor's to get ready for tonight." Gabriella sighed and rolled her eyes a little.

Her mom suddenly looked a little stressed out. "Oh dear, I was going to ask if I could borrow your car." She said.

"Why? Where are you going?" Gabriella asked.

"Well your father and I are supposed to be going over to the Bolton's for dinner tonight." Her mother explained. "Now your dad running late at work, so he's going to have to meet me at their place…but since my car is at the shop, I have no way to get there."

Gabriella bit her lip. She knew that she couldn't leave her mom stranded. "Well I need to get to Taylor's, but if you want I an drop you off on the way." She offered.

"Alright that sounds good." Her mom nodded. "Do you need help with everything?" she gave a little smile.

"That would be good." Gabby nodded. She handed her mom some of her stuff, and the two of them rushed out to her car.

On the way, Maria Montez looked over at her daughter. "So, are you excited for tonight sweetie?" she asked.

Gabriella thought about it for a moment. "Yeah." She finally said with a smile.

"Do I sense a little hesitation?" her mother asked.

"No." Gabby replied immediately. "It seems like it will be fun, there's just certain things about East High that I'm still getting used to." She told her mom.

"Well I think you'll have a great time." Her mom said cheerfully. "You'll be with Troy, so I wouldn't worry if I were you." She added with a smile.

"Yeah I guess you're right." Gabriella couldn't help but smile.

The two of them continued to drive on in silence, until Gabriella pulled into the Bolton's driveway. Her mother turned to her and smiled again. "Okay, have a great night Gabby, and thanks for giving me a lift." She gave Gabriella a quick hug and got out of the car. She walked up the front steps, but before she got to the door it opened. "Troy…hi there!" she said when she saw who it was.

Troy looked a little surprised. "Oh, hi Mrs. Montez." He said. "I saw Gabriella's car but didn't remember her saying she was coming over."

"Oh she was just dropping me off on her way out." Gabriella's mom explained, giving him a little pat on the shoulder on her way past.

Troy stuck his hands in his jean pockets and went down the walkway to Gabriella's car. She was quickly checking her hair in the rearview mirror, so he leaned over the driver's side. "Shouldn't you be off getting ready somewhere?" he asked.

Gabby looked over. "Getting ready for what?" she asked with a smirk. "Kidding." She laughed. "I had to drop my mom off here, but I'm on my way to Taylor's."

"I see." Troy nodded. "Well it's good to see you." He smiled.

"Aw, you too." Gabriella giggled and leaned in to kiss him. She suddenly stopped when she saw something over his shoulder. "We have an audience." She told him quietly.

Troy glanced up at his house. In the doorway, their two mothers seemed to be having a conversation. Both Troy and Gabriella knew they were pretending, and were really watching their two kids interact.

He looked back at Gabriella. "They might possibly be more excited for us to kiss then we are." He joked.

"Well too bad for all of us. I have to go." Gabriella laughed.

"You just got here though…" Troy put on a whiny voice and a fake pout.

"Yeah but I'm already late." She replied truthfully. She was supposed to have been at Taylor's twenty minutes ago.

"Two more minutes?" Troy begged.

"Fine." Gabriella sighed. "But if Taylor gets mad then I'm blaming you."

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In a mansion across the city, Sharpay Evans was staring into her reflection. This was her idea of getting ready for a night out. She had gotten stylists to come and do everything for her. All she had to do was watch and relax. Right now, she was getting her hair done.

"Um, could you fix this curl please?" Sharpay picked up an already near perfect curl of her blonde hair and looked at in disgust.

"Yes Ms. Evans." The girl who was doing her hair replied before going to work at it.

"I thought it looked fine." Ryan rolled his eyes from where he was sitting.

Sharpay looked at him. "Yes but my hair can't just look fine…it has to be perfect." She said

"Whatever you say." Ryan muttered.

"I just can't believe how completely genius I am." Sharpay ignored him and went on to thinking about herself again. "Tonight is going to be fabulous." She sighed happily.

"Remind me why you're suddenly so excited for this dance?" Ryan asked. He hadn't been fully listening earlier.

"Because…." Sharpay started. "I'm going with Zeke Baylor, one of Troy Bolton's closest friends." She explained. "You know those Wildcats…they love to stick together, which is perfect. I can keep my eye on Montez and possibly even make her night horrible."

"So let me get this straight." Ryan nodded. "You're using Zeke so that instead of just enjoying the dance, you can obsess over Troy and Gabriella and possibly ruin their night?" he asked.

"Exactly!" Sharpay answered happily. "I knew you had brains in there somewhere Ry."

"Right…" Ryan sighed. "Well have fun with your scheming because I wont be helping you tonight." He told her.

"Oh believe me Ryan." Sharpay smiled evilly. "I've got it under control."

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A few hours later, Troy, Chad, Jason, Zeke and a few other wildcats were sitting in the living room of Chad's house. Everyone had agreed that the guys, and their dates, would meet at Chad's before the dance. Now they were waiting for he girls to arrive.

"Zeke, come on." Chad urged. "Who's your date?" he asked. He didn't know an it was killing him.

Zeke sat down on one of the couches in the living room. "I'm going to say the same thing I have the past ten times you've asked, Chad." He replied. "I'm not telling you. You'll see when she gets here."

"Aw, why not?" Chad said, completely annoyed.

"Yeah come on." Jason chimed in. "Why does it have to be a surprise?" he said impatiently

"Guys…chill." Troy told them both. He was fiddling around with a basketball on one side of the room. "All of the girls will be here soon. Just wait." He tossed the basketball smoothly over to Chad, who caught it.

"Boys, you know the rules about basketballs in the house!" Chad's mom suddenly appeared at the entrance to the living room. "Especially in the living room." She added sternly.

"Sorry mom." Chad put the basketball down beside the couch.

The doorbell rang and his mom jumped a little. "Oh, I'll get that!" she said excitedly and rushed off. She made it to the front hall quickly and pulled open the big front door.

"Hi." A pretty brunette girl, who was standing just outside said with a smile.

"You must be Gabriella." Mrs. Danforth greeted her. "Chad has told me a lot about you. Plus, I've been like Troy's second mother since him and Chad became friends." She went on happily.

"Oh, I see." Gabriella said politely with a little laugh.

"Mom." They both heard and looked to see the guys standing in the hallway. "I think we can take it from here."

"Oh alright." Mrs. Danforth rolled her eyes. "Nice meeting you Gabriella." She said before leaving the doorway.

When she was gone, Gabriella turned around and looked towards a limo, which was sitting at the end of the driveway. "Taylor! Kelsi! You both look great, get out of there!" she called. When the back door of the limo opened she turned back to the house. "They'll be here in a minute." She smiled.

"We were wondering when you girls would show up." Troy told her as he came over. He wrapped an arm around her and gave her a quick kiss hello.

"We had a little delay." Gabby explained, not going into details. She looked over at the rest of the guys. "Just wait until Taylor and Kelsi get up here…they look gorgeous." She told them happily.

"How about we discuss how good you look?" Troy said to her. He had just fully taken in her deep purple, silky, strapless dress. It was floor length and fit her every curve perfectly.

Gabriella turned to face him, moving a little closer and wrapping her arms around his neck. "You're looking pretty nice yourself." She told Troy with a smile, before leaning in to kiss him.

"And we lost them already." Chad commented sarcastically. Jason gave a little laugh.

"Sorry about that." Taylor's voice came from the still open front door. Her and Kelsi had finally appeared. "We're here now." She said excitedly.

"Who's idea was the limo?" Kelsi asked from beside her. "It was a nice surprise." She smiled.

"It was sort of all of ours actually." Jason replied.

"Well it was really great of you…all of you." Kelsi told him. The two of them got caught up looking at each other.

"Alright, lets go sit down and wait for everyone else." Chad felt a little awkward, standing beside Taylor. They were the only two not currently caught up in a moment.

Jason jumped a little. "Oh…yeah." He said. "Let me lead the way." He said, mainly to Kelsi.

"Sounds good." She said and followed him.

"Uh…are they coming?" Taylor stopped and asked Chad. She pointed to Troy and Gabriella, who clearly hadn't noticed everyone leaving.

Chad shrugged. "Hey Troy? Gabby?" he half yelled to them. "We're all going back to the living room."

"Yeah okay we'll be there in a minute." Troy muttered and waved a hand at his friend. Both Taylor and Chad rolled their eyes and shook their heads lightly before leaving their friends alone in the front hall.

A few moments later, Gabriella pulled away from her boyfriend. "Come on, let's go." She told him.

"We will." Troy smirked. He pulled her back in. "In a minute."

"Really?" Gabriella laughed. "You know just because we came out about us doesn't mean we constantly have to be making out." She told Troy.

"I know." Troy replied. "But just admit it…you like it." He said, leaning his forehead on hers.

Gabby breathed out slowly. "I do." She finally replied. She was just about to kiss him again when the doorbell rang.

"Maybe Zeke's mystery date is finally here." Troy let go of her and headed towards the door, Gabriella following him closely.

"Mystery date?" she asked curiously.

Troy nodded and reached for the door handle. "Yeah." He nodded as she opened it. "He wouldn't tell us…" he stopped abruptly when he saw who was on the doorstep.

"Sharpay?" both Troy and Gabriella said at once.

"Aw look at you two…all dressed up." Sharpay smiled a fake smile at them both. "Is Zeke here?" she asked.

"I sure am." A voice came from behind Troy and Gabriella. They turned and saw Zeke, happily coming towards the door. The two of them moved out of the way and watched silently. "You look wonderful tonight Sharpay." Zeke commented on her shimmering silver dress.

"I know." Sharpay said happily and stepped in. "So this is Chad's house." She looked around. "It's….nice." she said, completely unimpressed.

"Let me show you the living room." Zeke told her, holding out an arm. Sharpay took it and the two of them left the front hallway.

"Looking good Troy." Sharpay flashed a smile at the basketball captain on her way past.

"You have got to be kidding me." Gabriella said when they were gone.

Troy looked at her. "I would not have guessed that of all the girls at East High, Zeke would bring Sharpay Evans."

"Yeah well she doesn't seem too into him." Gabriella said.

"Come on let's go an see what's going on." Troy grabbed her hand and the two of them went to the living room where everyone else was. Taylor immediately got up from one of the couches, heading for Gabriella when she saw her.

"What's she doing here?" Taylor asked her friend.

"I have no idea." Gabriella shrugged.

"She must be up to something." Taylor told her quietly. "That girl is always up to something." She shook her head lightly.

Before Gabriella could reply, the doorbell rang again. This time a few of the guys got up to go and get it, knowing it must be their dates. They came back a few minutes later with three of the cheerleaders. Gabriella spotted Rachel right away. "Wonderful…" she sighed lightly

"I'd look out if I were you." Taylor whispered to her when she noticed the same thing.

Gabriella nodded. "Yeah." She whispered back. She jumped a little when Troy wrapped an arm around her waist.

"Did I scare you?" he asked her with a little laugh.

"Maybe…" Gabby laughed a little too. "I'm just sort of…" she couldn't explain the strange feeling she had.

"A bit paranoid maybe?" Troy asked. "Sharpay and Rachel in the same place…" he knew right away what was on her mind.

"Hey stop reading my mind, it's freaky." Gabriella gave him a little playful hit on the shoulder.

Troy just laughed and pulled her in closer. "If I were you…I wouldn't worry about a thing."

Gabby leaned into him and tried to take in his comforting words, but she just couldn't help but wonder what those girls might be up to.


	16. Tearing Up The Dance Floor

**Sorry for taking sooooo long with this guys.**

**It's been a very long month and I haven't had very much time to write.**

**Anyways, Enjoy!**

**Chapter 16: Tearing Up The Dance Floor**

The large group had left Chad's house, and had now arrived at the winter dance. Troy and Gabriella were leading the way to the table. Troy was doing most of the leading though, since Gabriella had started dancing a little to the music, which was already pounding. Everyone was following behind, doing their own thing.

Troy looked over at Gabriella and laughed. When she noticed she stopped for a moment. "What?" she asked.

"Nothing." He shook his head lightly and laughed again.

Gabriella gave him a little playful shove. "Oh shut up I like this song." She told him. "I haven't been to something like this in such a long time." She said while she looked around a little more. Everything was white and silver, with piles of fake snow in certain spots. Most of all, everything was dripping with sparkles. Gabriella knew this was Sharpay's doing, but still she didn't mind.

"Really?" Troy asked.

"Do they not have dances like this in California?" Chad asked jokingly from behind.

Gabriella just laughed. She saw Taylor laugh a little too before covering it up with a roll of her eyes. "Yes Chad we had dances." Gabriella told him. "But my friends kind of liked the partying part of them more."

Chad nodded with a little smile. "Got it." He said.

"Found it." Troy suddenly said.

"Found what?" Taylor asked.

He pointed a little ways across the room. "Our table." He said.

"Oh, finally!" Sharpay said from behind. "I thought everyone had just given up or something."

Gabriella just rolled her eyes. "Come on." Troy said and grabbed her hand.

Before either of them could take a step, a pretty brunette and her date came out of nowhere. "Gabriella!" she said excitedly. "You look amazing!" she complimented with a smile. "Of course so do you Troy." She added to the basketball captain.

Gabriella looked a little taken by surprise. This girl looked familiar to her, but then again, so did everyone. Since it had become known that Gabriella and Troy were now a couple, almost everyone in the entire school had introduced themselves to the new girl. It was hard to keep track. "Oh, thanks…" she smiled and hoped the girl would remind her of her name.

"Mandy." She smiled happily. "Anyways, have fun! See you later!" Mandy suddenly reached forward and gave Gabriella a hug before pulling away and dragging her date with her.

Sharpay watched in complete horror from the back of the group. The same thing happened about three more times, with different people from different groups in the school. They all seemed completely taken with Gabriella, which drove Sharpay completely insane.

The one thing she noticed, was that Rachel, who wasn't too far away from herself, had the same, completely disgusted look on her face.

"Oh look, there's the bathroom." Sharpay suddenly spoke up. "I think I'll go, anyone want to join me?" she asked, finishing by giving Rachel a look.

Gabriella and Taylor glanced at each other and shook their heads. Kelsi looked a little hesitant. "I'll come." Rachel said.

Sharpay smiled. "Perfect, anyone else?" she offered.

Gabriella, Taylor and Kelsi all shook their heads again. None of them wanted to spend any more time then they already had to with the cheerleader and the ice queen.

Sharpay and Rachel went off to the bathroom together, but after a moment, Kelsi couldn't help it. "Okay, even though I'd rather not be stuck in a bathroom with those two….I really have to go." She said.

"Seriously, I just don't see why everyone has a problem with Sharpay." Zeke said. No one knew what to say to that. They didn't understand how Zeke could possibly see Sharpay as a sweet, loving person all of the time.

"Okay, I'm just going to go." Kelsi said, breaking the awkward silence. She turned around and weaved through bunches of people so that she could get to the bathroom. When she got there, she pushed open the door slowly, but stopped when she heard a voice.

"I just don't get it." The unmistakable voice of Sharpay Evans drifted out to her. "It's like she has some crazy spell on him or something that has suddenly made him love obsessed." She said. "And how does everybody just fall at her feet like that? What makes her so special?" she continued to rant. Kelsi knew there was only one person Sharpay could possibly sound so angry about. Gabriella Montez.

"I know. It's sickening." Kelsi recognized this voice as Rachel's.

"Well, you didn't say much when you called me earlier." Sharpay said. "You just said you were coming up with some sort of plan. What did you mean by that?"

"Plan?" Kelsi thought to herself. She was trying her hardest to not make any noise. If she did, they would definitely stop talking.

"Well…." Rachel started. "I couldn't think up any amazing way to get Troy back to normal in the few hours that I've had, but while we're trying to figure something out, why don't we just concentrate on ruining little miss new girl's evening."

"And how are we supposed to do that exactly?" Sharpay asked. "Everything that Gabriella Montez does seems to be perfect."

"I'm sure we can figure out something." Rachel sounded excited.

Sharpay didn't seem to be paying any attention to her. "I mean, look at her tonight. Perfect date, perfect hair, perfect makeup, perfect dress…. She trailed off and sighed.

"That's it." Rachel said after a moment. "Her dress."

"What about it?" Sharpay asked. "Other then the fact that it's amazing?"

"Sharpay, do you really want to ruin Gabriella's night?" Rachel asked. She sounded serious.

"Of course." Sharpay gave a little evil laugh. "It would be hilarious to see her freak out a little."

"Okay then, listen to me carefully…"

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Kelsi didn't even bother going to the bathroom. She had waited quietly outside of the bathroom and listened to Sharpay and Rachel come up with a plan. Now, her main focus was getting back to the table so that she could warn Gabriella. "Gabby!" she tried to get her friend's attention as soon as she got there.

Gabriella turned to look at her for less then a second. "Hang on." She told Kelsi, and looked back to Troy, who had been in the middle of saying something when Kelsi had come over.

"No wait, you have to listen to me, quick." Kelsi wasn't about to give up. "Sharpay and Rachel…."

"Oh man, they're on their way back already" Gabriella cut her off. She was looking in the direction that Kelsi had just come from, and sure enough there were Sharpay and Rachel, weaving their way through the tables, smiles on their faces.

"Hey there, miss us?" Sharpay laughed in her usual, overly perky way. "Oh look, there's a spot open beside Gabriella."

Taylor, who hadn't sat down yet since she had been talking to someone, looked shocked. "Actually that's my…" she started, but stopped when Sharpay sat down without even listening. "Spot." She finished a moment later.

Sharpay turned to Gabriella, who also looked a little shocked. "I think we need to get to know each other more. You never know, we could become great friends." Sharpay said happily.

"Uh…yeah." Gabriella nodded. She looked completely uncomfortable. "We could…"

"Perfect." Sharpay flashed her a smile, which scared Gabriella a little. On the outside though, she stayed cool and calm.

Troy leaned over and put a hand on Gabby's shoulder. "Don't worry." He whispered in her ear before giving her a kiss on the side of her head.

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A while later, dinner had been served and eaten. People were now getting up from their tables and starting to dance. Gabriella watched until she couldn't stand it anymore. She looked at Troy and gave him a tug on the arm. "Come on, let's go dance." She said, a little louder then usual because of the music.

Troy gave a little laugh. "I'm a terrible dancer." He informed her.

She shrugged. "I don't care." She held out a hand and looked at him, waiting for his response.

From behind her, Sharpay was watching angrily. She hated watching the two of them. She hated how Gabriella had made almost very head turn when she came in. Most of all, she just hated Gabriella. So when she saw the opportune moment, she placed the tip of her pointy stiletto heel on the edge of the fabric of Gabriella's dress, which was flowing onto the floor. Her and Rachel's plan was put into action.

"Fine." Troy finally agreed. He took Gabriella's outstretched hand and pulled her up. But as soon as she took a single step forward, a loud rip filled the air. Everyone at the table looked to see where it was coming from. Gabriella was the last to look down at her dress, which she had felt being ripped.

Sharpay, being the actress she was, put on a fake look of shock, and hopped up, but not before everyone had seen her heel on the dress. "Oh my god, I am so sorry!" she said dramatically.

Gabriella, who was frozen in a state between shock and complete anger, simply stared down at the large rip that had been created in her beautiful dress. She had already determined that there was no need to freak, since that would only make Sharpay happy. So instead she took a moment, and suddenly came up with an idea.

"Okay I can fix this. Excuse me." Gabriella was trying her hardest to remain calm while she gathered up her dress.

"I'll come help." Taylor said right away. The two girls made their way quickly across the room to the bathrooms, which were luckily empty. When in there, Gabriella stopped in front of the counters and let her dress fall to the floor again. "Wait, what are you going to do?" Taylor asked.

"Hmm..." Gabriella looked carefully at the rip in her dress before reaching up to her hair and pulling out the sparkly clip that was holding some of it up. She let her hair fall around her shoulders, gathered up her dress on the ripped side and pinned it in place.

"Wow that looks awesome." Taylor told her, slightly surprised.

Gabriella looked at her reflection. Her dress was now above her knee on one side, decoratively bunched up around her hair clip. It fell across her legs and hit the floor on the other side. She had managed to pull off the repair quite nicely. "You think so?"

"Gabby, it looks like it's meant to be that way." Taylor told her. "I can't believe Sharpay just tried to ruin your night by ripping your dress." She shook her head.

"I know." Gabby agreed. "How much more immature and obsessed can you get?" she said angrily. It was okay to let it out now. "I mean, I thought the glares in the hallway an stuff were going to be the worst of it, but now this?" She stopped when Taylor was looking at her oddly. "What?" she asked.

Taylor shrugged. "You are probably just about the coolest person I've ever met." She smiled. "I mean if this had happened to anyone else, they would have attacked Sharpay then come to the bathroom in tears and refused to come out." She told her. "But you, the first thing you do is figure out how to fix your dress, and possibly make it look hotter than before."

Gabriella laughed. "See, the thing is, I wanted to scream at her out there, but it would have just been exactly what she wanted." She shrugged lightly.

Suddenly the door of the bathroom flew open and Sharpay herself came walking in. "I wanted to come check on you, I felt so bad." She said. "Sorry about your dress." She forced out a sympathetic tone. Then she actually looked at the girls in front of her. She had expected to see Gabriella crying, makeup a mess and Taylor unable to comfort her. Instead Gabriella wore a satisfied grin and what now looked like a perfectly unharmed dress. If it was possible, she looked better then before. This was not what Sharpay had wanted.

"Oh it's okay, I kind of like it better like this anyways." Gabriella lied, looking at herself in the mirror and turning around. Okay, she had to admit, she had really pulled it off. "It's growing on me." She smiled.

"Wonderful." Sharpay was clearly fuming but trying to hide it.

"Well, see you out there. I think my boyfriend is waiting." Gabriella flashed her a smile before walking past and out of the bathroom.

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Just outside the door, most of their table seemed to have gathered. They were deep in discussion while waiting for any of the three girls to come out.

"I feel terrible, maybe I shouldn't have brought Sharpay." Zeke said. "I knew she would cause trouble."

"Don't worry about it man, knowing Sharpay, she probably would have done it even if she wasn't your date." Troy told him. "I just hope Gabby's okay, I mean, they've been in there a while now." he added, sounding a little worried.

"Why don't you just go in and see." Kelsi rolled her eyes.

Chad shook hid head. "No way man, don't do it." He told Troy. "You can't go in the girls bathroom it's just…" he argued.

That was when the door of the bathroom opened and Gabriella came out, surprising them all because she was smiling. Taylor was following close behind. "Sorry about that." Gabriella told everyone. Then she looked to Troy. "Still want to dance?" she asked him.

"Uh…" He was lost for words. Simply because she had gone from gorgeous to stunning. She wasn't crying or upset like he had half expected. But of course she wasn't, she was Gabriella Montez, and she had told him many times already that she wouldn't let some girl get her down. He had doubted that until now. "Of course." He smiled.

"Okay let's go." Gabriella grabbed his hand and dragged him away from the group and onto the dance floor. A slow song was just starting to play.

"So, tell me the truth." Troy said when they had made it to the middle of the dance floor. "Are you okay?" he asked.

Gabriella nodded. "For sure." She told him. "I told you I wouldn't let someone like Sharpay get me down." She reminded him. "My poor dress might have suffered a little…but I don't think it looks too bad." She glanced down at her shortened dress.

Troy definitely seemed to like it. "It still looks amazing. He told her.

Gabriella smiled. "I'm glad you think so."

She watched Troy's face turn a little more serious. "I'm sorry about Sharpay." Troy told her. "I never thought she would go this far." He shook his head, still not quite believing it.

Gabriella shrugged. "You don't see me crying about it." She smiled a little. "It's fine." She assured him.

Troy nodded. "Still, it's not fair that you have someone trying to ruin everything for you." He said. "I don't get how you just deal."

"Let's just say I've learnt that in certain situations it's better to just stay calm and move forward." Gabriella told him.

"Really?" Troy asked.

Gabby nodded. "Yeah, eventually whoever or whatever is bugging you will just give up.

"Well, in case that incredible strength of yours goes away, I'm here you know." Troy told her.

Gabby was glad that he cared so much. She smiled as soon as she had taken in what he had just said. "See, when you say things like that it makes it all worth it."


End file.
